Can Troops Patrol U.S. Cities?

Published on LinkedIn: February 13, 2026

It’s often assumed a president can send troops into American cities whenever order seems threatened.

The constitutional tradition has been far more restrictive.

From the Founding forward, domestic law enforcement in the United States has been understood as a civilian responsibility. Policing power rests primarily with states and local governments, not the federal military. That division was not accidental. It reflected deep concern about what happens when armed force becomes a routine instrument of domestic governance.

After the Civil War, those concerns intensified. Americans had seen firsthand how military authority, if left unchecked, could eclipse civil institutions. As a result, federal law and constitutional practice reinforced a strong presumption against using troops as domestic police.

There are exceptions. Congress has authorized limited circumstances in which federal forces may be deployed domestically. But those exceptions are narrow, legally constrained, and politically consequential. Even when invoked, they do not dissolve civilian government, close courts, or nullify constitutional rights.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized this boundary. Where civilian courts are open and functioning, military authority cannot replace civil rule. Decisions about whether extraordinary conditions exist are not left to presidential assertion alone; they are subject to legal judgment.

The constitutional design is clear. Armed force may support civil authority, but it does not supersede it. Civilian government remains the rule — even in crisis.