Can Trump shut down protests using the military under the Insurrection Act? What would it take? The answer is complicated, but as more and more protests take place, understanding that legal terrain has become increasingly important. While invocation of the Act doesn’t look imminent, it’s always good to understand the law in advance. That’s our mission tonight.

First, a reminder about the importance of peaceful, nonviolent protests, the approach successfully adopted by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to fuel the civil rights movement in the 1960s. When Dr. King organized sit-ins in public spaces in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963, the images that were projected across the country showed white Birmingham police officers turning pressurized hoses and aggressive police dogs against peaceful demonstrators. Peaceful protests forced Birmingham’s entrenched, racist police chief Bull Connor to resign. Public spaces like lunch counters and bus stations in Birmingham were ultimately desegregated.

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In our country, the military has long been prohibited from domestic law enforcement because of the fear that its involvement would put us on a path towards tyranny. They defended their vision of government against claims made by anti-federalists that the country was too big, that a president would become a dictator, and that a national army would crush any possibility of dissent.

In Federalist No. 10, James Madison defended the new Constitution against claims it would permit a president to become a dictator with a national army at his disposal to crush any possible dissent. He wrote that the system of government under consideration contained checks and balances to protect individual liberties. He argued that the legislative branch and the judicial branch would act as checks on the executive and there would be a balance of power shared between states and the federal government. Donald Trump, quite clearly, does not agree. He continues to try to give himself all the power of government, much as some of our early leaders feared a president might do.

It is up to each of us to decide how we will meet this moment. For some of us, that will mean showing up to Saturday’s “Hands Off” protest events. For others, it will mean continuing to confront elected officials with their obligation to face the challenges of this moment head-on. Others will be preparing to run for office, support a candidate, or educate their children about the importance of voting. Protest can take many forms. But what’s increasingly clear is that Trump’s effort to create a culture of fear has not silenced the opposition. Americans are, indeed, ready to save the Republic.