On June 10, President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if ongoing street protests in Los Angeles rose to the level of an insurrection.
"If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see," Trump told reporters from the Oval Office. His comments came one day after deploying around 700 US Marines to Los Angeles as part of a broader federal response to protests against immigration raids.
This archaic law was actually drawn up in 1792 when the United States was a very different country to the one Trump presides over today. The statute has been used by various White House incumbents on numerous occasions since, but critics argue that it is dangerously vague and in need of reform. So, what exactly is the Insurrection Act, and why and when is it invoked?