WASHINGTON —

A recent court ruling blocking President Donald Trump’s efforts to deploy the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, has led him to consider invoking the Insurrection Act, as he discussed with reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.

The Trump administration has argued that additional military support is needed to protect federal agents from riots targeting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities. Advertisement

Now, the ruling has revived public questions about how the Insurrection Act works and when presidents have used it in the past.

What is the law

The Insurrection Act allows the president — as commander-in-chief — to deploy military forces or the National Guard within the United States.

The current version of the law was enacted in 1807, but an earlier v

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