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As protests continue to erupt across Los Angeles and other cities, the Trump administration has taken the extraordinary step of federalizing National Guard units and placing active-duty Marines on standby. Social media and cable news have been flooded with claims that the United States is now under “martial law.” But is that actually the case? The answer is more complicated — and more dangerous — than most people realize.

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What Is Martial Law?

“Martial law” is one of the most extreme domestic powers any government can exercise. Under martial law, civilian authorities are suspended or replaced, and military commanders assume full control over law enforcement, courts, and sometimes even governance itself. Citizens may lose basic constitutional rights, including habeas corpus (the right to challenge unlawful detention), freedom of movement, free speech, and due process.

I have formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command.

We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while… pic.twitter.com/tOtA5dcfxc

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 8, 2025

In U.S. history, true martial law has been declared extremely rarely:

• After the Pearl Harbor attack in Hawaii
• During portions of Reconstruction after the Civil War
• Isolated local instances during riots or insurrections.

What Has Trump Actually Done?

They spit, we hit!

THEY SPIT, WE HIT!!pic.twitter.com/P8h3p5J0Oc

— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) June 8, 2025

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Right now, Trump has not formally declared martial law. Instead, he has:

• Federalized the National Guard under Title 10 of the U.S. Code.
  This means National Guard troops who normally serve under their state governor are placed under federal command. Under Title 10, they operate as part of the federal military, but technically still serve under civilian authority. This allows the president to bypass state governors who may refuse to activate their Guard units.
• Prepared active-duty Marines for possible deployment.
  Active-duty military forces, such as the Marines, are generally barred from domestic law enforcement under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. However, there is one major exception: the Insurrection Act.
• Considered invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807.
  This federal law allows the president to deploy active-duty military on U.S. soil to enforce federal laws, suppress insurrections, or restore public order when local authorities cannot or will not maintain peace. It was used by Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy during desegregation crises in the 1950s and 60s — but remains a rare and highly controversial power.

Q: "Could we really see active duty Marines on the streets of Los Angeles?"

Johnson: "I don't think that's heavy handed."

Q: "You don't think sending Marines into the streets of an American city is heavy handed?"

Johnson: "We have to be prepared to do what is necessary." pic.twitter.com/Fmn5wwM84e

— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) June 8, 2025

So Is This Martial Law? Not Yet.

While federalizing National Guard troops and preparing active-duty military is aggressive and historically unusual, it does not automatically equal martial law.

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• Civilian governments — city mayors, state governors, police departments, and courts — are still functioning.
• Civil liberties (so far) remain intact.
• There has been no blanket suspension of constitutional rights.
• Military forces have not replaced civilian law enforcement — they are supplementing or assisting them.

The critical legal difference is that martial law removes civilian authority entirely, placing the military in charge of not just law enforcement, but governance itself. That threshold has not yet been crossed.

The Slippery Slope

However, legal scholars are raising serious concerns about how quickly federal military force is being used to intervene in largely civilian matters. The Insurrection Act was designed for rare instances of true insurrection or inability of state governments to function — not as a routine response to protest activity, even if some protests turn violent.

If the Trump administration were to take the next step — suspending courts, overriding governors, canceling elections, or using military tribunals in place of civil courts — that would constitute a true declaration of martial law. We are not there yet, but federalizing troops over the objections of local leaders raises uncomfortable historical parallels.

The Bottom Line

While Trump’s moves remain within the outer edges of legal authority, they push the boundaries of federal power in ways that should alarm anyone concerned with the balance of civilian and military authority. The fact that we’re even having a national debate about whether martial law is imminent tells us just how tense — and fragile — the current political moment truly is.

Stay tuned to The Space Coast Rocket as we continue to monitor this situation.

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