1. Thanks to MyPillow guy (sigh), here's, hopefully for the last forking time, one more #thread on the Insurrection Act — and why there's neither a legal nor practical pathway by which Trump could use it to somehow stay in power and/or prevent Biden's inauguration next Wednesday:

2. Let's start at the beginning. The "Insurrection Act" is actually shorthand for a *series* of statutes dating back to 1792 that authorize the President to use the military for domestic law enforcement.

You'll find them today at 10 U.S.C. §§ 251–55:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/subtitle-A/part-I/chapter-13

3. Critically, invoking the Insurrection Act is *not* tantamount to invoking "martial law." Almost every invocation of the statute throughout its history has been to *supplement* civilian law enforcement, not to *supplant* it — most recently during the Rodney King riots in LA.

4. That's because martial law isn't "invoked"; it's a *factual* state of affairs in which there is no functioning civilian government.

As #SCOTUS held in 1866, it "can never be applied ... where the courts are open and their process unobstructed." https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/71/2/

5. So even if Trump *were* to invoke the Insurrection Act, all that he could lawfully do under that statute is to order the military to ... enforce federal (and, depending on the provision, state) laws.

It is not, and has never been, a mechanism for *overriding* those laws.

6. And to those who might respond that "Trump doesn't care about laws," fair enough. But the military does. Invoking the Insurrection Act is not unlawful per se, but using it to order the military to prevent Biden's inauguration or take steps to keep Trump in power clearly is.

7. That's because the unambiguous text of Section 1 of the Twentieth Amendment provides that Trump's term ends at noon (EST) on Wednesday. Even if there's tension between them (and there isn't), a statute like the Insurrection Act *cannot* override a constitutional provision.

8. Trump can (and may) still attempt some pretty shady stuff between now and next Wednesday.

And he may even manage to pull off some of it (like pardoning everyone who stormed the Capitol last Wednesday).

That's despicable, and it's conduct for which he should be sanctioned.

9. But MyPillow guy's not-so-secret notes notwithstanding, there's nothing in the Insurrection Act that provides any legal *or* practical mechanism for Trump to avoid his fate under the 20th Amendment.

One way or the other, his presidency ends in 113 hours and 50 minutes.

/end