When asked whether United States President Donald Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act , Vice President JD Vance said this week that Trump is “looking at all his options”.

The decision would allow Trump to deploy the US military domestically for law enforcement purposes without congressional authorisation and over the objections of state governors.

Vance’s October 12 comment on NBC’s Meet the Press was just one of many in recent months about Trump’s ambitions to send the National Guard to Democratic cities such as Portland and Chicago.

But the legal terms being tossed around – Insurrection Act, plenary authority, martial law, Posse Comitatus Act – have traditionally not been commonly used in US politics. These terms defy simple definitions after decades of interpretation by the cou

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