1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I’m worried about Donald Trump’s ability to abuse the Insurrection Act should he regain the Presidency. He has indicated that he will do just that, and we should believe him. Congress, therefore, needs to fix the Insurrection Act right now. This may not be as difficult as it seems: Utah Senator Mike Lee, for example, introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act in 2021 that would have made major reforms to the Insurrection Act. His amendment, restated later in the year in a standalone bill co-sponsored by Bernie Sanders and Chris Murphy, would time-limit presidential proclamations of insurrection to 30 days unless Congress approved an extension, and even then that extension could only last a year. Good! In addition to time-limiting a president’s powers to declare an insurrection and invoke the Insurrection Act, it should also be reformed to clearly define what is an insurrection that would justify mobilizing or deputizing a militia or the military on US soil. Right now the law uses vague terms like “combination” and “assemblage” that are both obsolete and subject to wide interpretation. Finally, Congress needs to tighten up the definition of a militia. Please get this done now so that no President, whether Republican, Democrat, or other, can abuse this outdated law for their own ends. Thanks.