Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi used references to fictional provisions of the U.S. Constitution in a tirade against President Donald Trump after he ordered California National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles to protect federal agents and property amid growing riots there.
“I hope the president would read Article 10 of the Constitution, and I urge all of you to do that, as well,” Pelosi said, about the 49-second mark, as Democratic lawmakers behind her all nodded in agreement. “Because section 12046 of Article 10 says that the National Guard cannot be called up by the president without the consent of the governor.”
Only, there is no “Article 10” in the Constitution; there are only seven, and they lay out the duties and responsibilities of each branch of goverment: Executive, Judicial, Legislative.
Pelosi was likely attempting to reference Title 10 of the United States Code, which contains the provisions for use of the “National Guard in Federal service.”
Having said that, however, Pelosi was also wrong in claiming that presidents don’t have the authority to federalize National Guard troops. One of the Democratic Party’s icons, civil rights-era President Lyndon B. Johnson, invoked Title 10 to federalize Alabama National Guard troops to protect civil rights protesters,
“The statute explicitly states that the president may call the Guard into federal service and that orders ‘shall be issued through the governors,’ which is an administrative process, and not a requirement of consent,” Matt Margolis wrote Wednesday at PJ Media.