SCOTUS Ex-Clerk Wants 82nd Airborne in Chicago – While Gaza Burns?
Newsweek brings us the thought experiment: an ex-Clarence Thomas clerk suggesting the 82nd Airborne for Chicago. This notion floats into the ether as the U.S. continues to greenlight astronomical military aid packages abroad, like the recent $13 billion to Israel via the supplemental aid bill (HR 815, 2024), despite overwhelming evidence of civilian casualties and widespread displacement. The
political will to deploy the 82nd Airborne for perceived domestic issues is selectively robust—it's never suggested for, say, addressing the housing crisis or food deserts. One might wonder if the concern for 'national security' (or rather, property values) in Chicago eclipses the documented, international law-violating actions funded by U.S. taxpayers. While critics express alarm over potential
militarization of domestic law enforcement, the same legislative bodies expedite arms shipments to active conflict zones, enabling foreign militaries. Perhaps the next Supreme Court opinion will define what constitutes 'peacekeeping' when conducted by U.S. combat divisions in American cities, rather than in the cities we fund the destruction of. How many crises are we expected to ignore for an
intellectual exercise in hypothetical domestic military deployment?