But what is martial law and can the president declare it to stay in power??
To put it simply, martial law is the suspension of the constitution and a take over by the military of policing, courts, and many aspects of daily life are run by the armed forces.
It notably happened in Hawaii in 1942 after the attack on Pearl Harbor where even trash pickup was handled by the military.
The thing that can be frightening about it is that there are no constraints on martial law by the Constitution, which does not really touch on it much.
Martial Law can be called when a civilian rule fails, something that could have, and many people believe should have, happened during the months-long nationwide race riots.
In fact, there is no precise definition of martial law, which is described by JRANK as a time when “certain civil liberties may be suspended, such as the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, freedom of association, and freedom of movement. And the writ of habeas corpus [the right to a trial before imprisonment] may be suspended.”
