The Insurrection Act: History, Authority, and Constitutional Limits with William Banks and Harvey Rishikof

This week, we revisit a foundational conversation on the Insurrection Act, originally recorded in June 2020 with William Banks and Harvey Rishikof. Together, they trace the Act’s history, unpack the scope of presidential authority it confers, explain how it may be invoked, and examine the constitutional principles that should guide its use. William Banks is former Chair of the Standing Committee on Law and National Security Harvey Rishikof is Senior Counselor of the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security EVENT: Register for our in-person luncheon on March 5 in Washington, D.C., featuring journalist Jason Rezaian and attorney David Bowker on hostage diplomacy and the wrongful detention of Americans overseas. View the full program here. References: The Insurrection Act Posse Comitatus Act Banks, William C., and Stephen Dycus. Soldiers on the Home Front: The Domestic Role of the American Military . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016. Banks, William C. “Providing ‘Supplemental Security’–The Insurrection Act and the Military Role in Responding to Domestic Crises.” Journal of National Security Law & Policy, vol. 3, Dec. 15, 2009

You can listen to The Insurrection Act: History, Authority, and Constitutional Limits with William Banks and Harvey Rishikof online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Insurrection Act: History, Authority, and Constitutional Limits with William Banks and Harvey Rishikof is an episode from National Security Law Today by National Security Law Today.

This episode is 62:52 long.

This episode was published on Feb 18, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from National Security Law Today when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.