Claim:
U.S. President Donald Trump accurately relayed that half of U.S. presidents have invoked the Insurrection Act.
Rating:
Context
Trump said “almost” 50% of U.S. presidents and “like 50%” of U.S. presidents have invoked the Insurrection Act in two separate interviews on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20. Since its signing in 1807, 33% of U.S. presidents have invoked the Insurrection Act. Some incidents are grey areas that may or may not be counted as prior uses of the Insurrection Act. If all of those incidents were included, up to 40% of presidential administrations have invoked the Insurrection Act.
U.S. President Donald Trump told news reporters multiple times throughout October 2025 that he could invoke the Insurrection Act, a law that gives the president sweeping authority to use the military to quell civil disorder or insurrection within the United States, if he decided it was necessary to do so.
Trump continued referencing the Insurrection Act following thousands of “No Kings Day” protests against his administration on Oct. 18, 2025. In a Fox “Sunday Morning Futures” interview that aired Oct. 19, Trump claimed (archived) that “50% of the presidents almost” have used the Insurrection Act. While answering reporters’ questions the following day, Trump similarly said (archived) “like 50% of the presidents have used the Insurrection Act.”
On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order that, among other things, directed his cabinet to look into whether he could use the Insurrection Act to “obtain complete operational control of the southern border.” In October, he repeatedly referred to it in the context of invoking it to justify using the military to conduct law enforcement in Democratic-run cities.
Trump’s claim that 50% of the presidents have invoked the Insurrection Act was false. Whether “almost” 50% have invoked it depends on what is defined as almost, since somewhere between 33% and 40% of presidents have invoked the act.
The Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president the power to deploy military forces or federalize National Guard troops to restore order in the event of insurrection, rebellion or civil disorder within the United States, according to EBSCO, a provider of research databases. The act was preceded by the Calling Forth Act of 1792, which gave the president the power to call up state militias to federal service under certain conditions.
Brennan Center, a nonprofit law and policy organization that has advocated for election reform and other policy changes, maintains a database of when previous U.S. presidents invoked the Insurrection Act and includes links to the specific proclamation for each one. Snopes confirmed that each president listed ordered the use of military to restore order in response to insurrection or unrest, invoking the Insurrection Act. According to Brennan Center’s database, 15 different U.S. presidents have legally invoked the Insurrection Act. That’s 33% of the 45 different U.S. presidents.
However, there are some edge cases that can change those numbers. First, there have been 47 presidential administrations; Grover Cleveland is the 22nd and 24th president, while Donald Trump is the 45th and 47th president. Cleveland invoked the Insurrection Act during both of his presidencies, which means 16 of 47 administrations have legally invoked the Insurrection Act. That’s 34% of the presidencies in U.S. history.
During Herbert Hoover’s administration, Gen. Douglas MacArthur disobeyed Hoover’s orders to play a purely a supportive role while the Washington, D.C., police cleared out Bonus Army encampments, instead acting as if martial law had been declared and using a detachment of troops to clear out the camps himself. The Brennan Center says the incident “was and is widely understood as an invocation of the Insurrection Act, but where none of the legal procedures were followed because the army was acting without authorization.” If this incident is included, it would mean the Insurrection Act has been used in 17 out of 47 administrations, or 36% of all U.S. presidencies.
One last consideration is the presidencies of George Washington and John Adams, who both used militias to suppress rebellions under old laws prior to the Insurrection Act becoming law. If the criteria is expanded to include those incidents, which would have likely been supported by the Insurrection Act had it been law at the time, then that’s up to 40% of all presidential administrations in U.S. history.
The Insurrection Act has rarely been used since the end of the Civil Rights era in the 1960s, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. The Brennan Center recorded only three uses of the Insurrection Act since the end of the 1960s, the last of which was when George H.W. Bush invoked it in 1992 in response to the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. The CRS confirmed this was the last time a president invoked the Insurrection Act.
