Legal experts worry about presidential abuse of the Insurrection Act. Here's why

A bipartisan group of legal experts is sounding an alarm about presidential power this election season.

They're pushing Congress to update a cluster of laws known as the Insurrection Act and limit how the White House can deploy troops on American soil, in case a future president takes advantage of that sweeping power.

"It's really up to the president to decide when to use the armed forces as a domestic police force," said Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty & National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. "And that is tremendous cause for concern, because an army turned inward can very quickly become an instrument of tyranny."

The Insurrection Act, which predates the development of modern state and local police departments, gives the president the power to call on the military during an emergency to curb unrest or rebellion here at home.