CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A video of Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee for North Carolina's Superintendent of Schools, is circulating on social media again after a CNN article.
The video was posted by Morrow on Jan. 6, 2021. She posted the video on social media after attending the Jan. 6 rally that eventually turned violent.
In the video Morrow claimed that Trump was still the president until the inauguration, so he could invoke an executive order against voter fraud and if people did not follow his orders surrounding the election, he could then enact the Insurrection Act.
Morrow called on then-President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act to activate the military. She also called for Trump to "put the Constitution to the side" to keep power.
Can presidents invoke the Insurrection Act to stay in power?
OUR SOURCES:
- Catawba College Political Science Professor Micheal Bitzer
- The U.S. Department of Defense
WHAT WE FOUND:
The U.S. Department of Defense states whenever there is an insurrection in any state against its government the President may request the legislature of the governor to call in federal services. It allows the President to deploy troops to the states.
"It's a loose set of laws that have been created to try and address any issues such as open rebellions insurrections or attempts to overthrow the government," Bitzer said. "In the past, the Insurrection Act has been utilized by presidents."
Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson invoked the Insurrection Act during the Civil Rights Movement to enforce federal court orders desegregating schools and other institutions in the South.
However, Bitzer said there are a lot of gray areas with this act. It would be up to the courts to decide if staying in power was something that the president could invoke the Insurrection Act for and if the situation aligned with the Constitution.
"I don't think any court would say a president can use the law to break the law certainly using the Insurrection Act to stay in power when constitutionally, when legally, there was another person elected to the presidency. [It] calls into question whether we are a government of laws or whether we are a government of men," Bitzer said.
To read the full Insurrection Act you can click here.
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