Earlier Monday morning, President Donald Trump invoked the Home Rule Act of 1973 and placed the Washington D.C. Police under federal control.
He also deployed the National Guard in a move that he says will help combat homelessness and crime in Washington, D.C.
Former United States Attorney of the Western District of Virginia John Fishwick - currently an owner of Fishwick and Associates Law Firm - defined the Home Rule Act when he spoke with 10News.
“In 1973, Congress and the President signed into law what’s called the Home Rule Act in Washington D.C., which gave a lot of local control to folks who run the D.C. government,” Fishwick said. “It also gave a lot of control to the federal government, which includes Congress and the President, over the affairs of Washington, D.C.”
Fishwick says that by invoking the law - which was initially signed into law under the Richard Nixon administration - President Trump and the federal government have full control of D.C.’s law enforcement.
“The Federal Government is running law enforcement in Washington, D.C. The president has declared it an emergency,” Fishwick said. “He has put it under his control, under the control of [United States Attorney General] Pam Bondi, and it is within his legal rights to do that.”
According to the Home Rule Act, President Trump has federal control of the D.C. Police Department for up to 48 hours and can extend it for up to 30 days.
The act, however, does not give him the authority to conduct similar takeovers in other cities.
“He can threaten federal funding, he could say that the ICE agents aren’t being protected, and he wants to bring in the national guard,” Fishwick said. “To actually take over the police department in other cities, I think there is much less legal authority to do that.”