This day in history: Little Rock, Arkansas

On this day (24 September) in 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower deploys the legendary 101st Airborne Division (based out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky) to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, after the Arkansas National Guard (under orders of the Governor, Orval Faubus) had blocked the “Little Rock Nine” from desegregating the school. [The Little Rock Nine are Minnijean Brown (b. 1941), Elizabeth Eckford (b. 1941), Ernest Green (b. 1941), Gloria Ray Karlmark (b. 1942), Carlotta Walls LaNier (b. 1942), Thelma Mothershed (1940-2024), Melba Pattillo Beals (b. 1941), Terrence Roberts (b. 1941), and Jefferson Thomas (1942-2010).] But was Ike’s historic order constitutional? Can a president deploy the armed forces of the United States to quell a purely domestic disturbance? I explored this fundamental legal question in my 2019 law review article “Domestic Constitutional Violence,” which has been cited several times since its publication. See, for example (in alphabetical order, by…

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