Index/Topics/School Desegregation

School Desegregation

The Insurrection Act was used to enforce school desegregation in the 20th century.

Fact-Checks

6 results
Jan 11, 2026
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What is the insurrection act?

The Insurrection Act is a set of federal statutes first codified in 1807 that authorizes the president to deploy and use U.S. armed forces, including federalizing the National Guard, within the United...

Jan 16, 2026
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How have courts ruled when presidential invocations of the Insurrection Act were legally challenged?

Courts have historically given presidents broad deference to decide when domestic military force is needed, a posture rooted in the 1827 Martin v. Mott precedent that the authority to call out the mil...

Jan 18, 2026
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What does the Insurrection Act allow a president to do, and how has it been used historically?

The Insurrection Act is a federal statute that authorizes the president to call out the U.S. military and federalize National Guard forces to suppress insurrection, enforce federal law, or protect civ...

Jan 15, 2026

What are the historical precedents for presidential invocation of the Insurrection Act?

The Insurrection Act, enacted in 1807, has been invoked roughly 30 times by about 15 presidents to authorize deployment of federal military forces on U.S. soil in extreme crises; its use ranges from e...

Jan 7, 2026

Can a US president use the Insurrection Act to deploy troops against state officials?

A president can, under the Insurrection Act, federalize and deploy U.S. military forces inside a state—even over the objections of state officials—but only under statutorily defined circumstances and ...

Jan 8, 2026

How did Eisenhower’s federalization in Little Rock inform later uses of the Insurrection Act?

Eisenhower’s 1957 decision to federalize the Arkansas National Guard and send regular Army units to enforce school desegregation crystallized the Insurrection Act as the constitutional instrument for ...