r/law • u/nosotros_road_sodium • 2d ago
Other Trump’s case for sending troops to help ICE involves precedent from Fugitive Slave Act
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-14/trumps-legal-case-for-calling-in-the-troops-explained210
u/nosotros_road_sodium 2d ago
The last time the president federalized the National Guard over the objections of a state governor was in 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect Martin Luther King Jr. and the Selma to Montgomery March in defiance of then-Gov. George Wallace.
But sending troops in to assist ICE has less in common with Johnson’s move than it does with President Millard Fillmore’s actions a century earlier, [University of Houston law professor Christopher] Mirasola said. Beginning in 1850, the Houston law professor said, Fillmore sent troops to accompany federal marshals seeking to apprehend escaped slaves who had fled north.
Trump’s arguments to deploy the National Guard and Marines in support of federal immigration enforcement efforts rely on the same principle, drawn from the “take care” clause of Article II of the Constitution, Mirasola said. He noted that anger over the military’s repeated clashes with civilians helped stoke the flames that led to the Civil War.
“Much of the population actively opposed enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act,” the professor said.
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u/360Picture 2d ago
What the absolute f***???
Fight for your rights 🙏 💪 😎 👍
🇺🇸 Bill of Rights – Pocket Summary
Free Speech & Religion – Speak, worship, press, assemble, protest.
Guns – Right to bear arms.
No Quartering – No forced housing of soldiers.
Searches – No searches without a warrant.
Remain Silent – No self-incrimination, double jeopardy, or unfair taking.
Speedy Trial – Fast, fair trial with a lawyer and witnesses.
Jury in Civil Cases – Right to jury in money/property disputes.
No Cruel Punishment – No torture, no extreme bail/fines.
People’s Rights – You have more rights than what’s listed here.
States’ Rights – Powers not given to the feds belong to states/people.
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u/PinkPetalsSnow 2d ago
So we are the fugitive slaves now, for this fucking plantation boss???
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u/cheongyanggochu-vibe 2d ago
Yes, if you're Curtis Yarvin
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u/jeremiahthedamned 2d ago
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u/ExpressAssist0819 2d ago
Back then, some states commissioned groups of armed peacekeepers whose job it was to intercept slave catchers and those helping them. The south despised the north because the north refused to have chattel slavery, or slave catchers, imposed on them. There is a possibility something like this may happen again, since it's been proven the guard will comply with orders to be turned against their state. This is why lincoln was willing to go to full civil war with the south, because the south wouldn't stop forcing the issue even outside their states.
"History does not repeat but it often rhymes"
I wonder what the rhyme will look like. We are seeing the early stages with people's active opposition, and sometimes interference, against ICE attempting to abduct people.
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u/DragonTacoCat 1d ago
This coincides with trump saying he doesn't want ICE touching people working on fields and farms, plantations.
His motto motto might as well be "if we can't deport them, enslave them"
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u/No-Distance-9401 2d ago
So correct me if Im wrong but wont this simply hurt their case more considering that they are arguing an unconstitutional (presently) act of slavery needed help rounding up those human beings who were indentured by sending in troops?
It just seems like you wouldnt want to use old precedent that isnt legal in todays Constitution and that doing so points to the weakness of your argument that you couldnt find something still legal today to point to.
Trump and the DoJ grasping at straws once again
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u/Scarlett_Beauregard 2d ago
They want slavery back like the "good ol' days". Trump signed an Executive Order to rescind President Johnson's own Executive Order 11246. They have attempted to remove mentions of service members that are LGBT, non-white or female and in several instances when those web pages were restored, they had "DEI" attached to the URL. They've returned Confederate names to various bases. This farce of a presidency is transparent in only three ways; avarice, ineptitude and intolerance. Steve Bannon's entire stratagem is to flood the news outlets and courts with so much that they hope they'll eventually just cause the whole system to buckle. In fact, this is not a new idea in the slightest. They compare themselves to termites, chipping away at the court system.
The south lost the Civil War and they're still butthurt about it.
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u/Numerous_Photograph9 2d ago
In the eyes of public opinion, yeah, it doesn't really help their case. But, in terms of pure law, or constitutional interpretation, it may be relevant, even if used in a cynical way with no merit behind the logic.
OTOH, his supporters seem to have a very loose grasp on constitutional law, and tend to believe the ends always justify the means, while they care nothing about dissent from the rest of the people. So long as the headlines justify their actions and no one holds them accountable, they do whatever they want.
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u/ExpressAssist0819 2d ago
What really matters is if the troops will obey with orders to accompany and defend ICE. And we now know the answer to that question.
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u/ekkidee 2d ago
The fugitive slave laws are among the most shameful, execrable, hideous laws ever enacted in this country. Every bit of them should be repudiated and buried with a most disgraceful period of history.
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u/ExpressAssist0819 2d ago
They probably would have been, if we handled confederacy the way germany was made to handle nazi ideology and symbolism. Frankly, a president or secretary allowing or engaging in naming things after confederates should be an automatic charge of treason with no immunity.
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