[Peace-discuss] Posse Comitatus Act & Militarizatiion of Police

[E. W. Johnson]

Posse comitatus has been violated in spirit numerous times, but really 
the only rubber stamp the federales need is an
authorization from the Governor of the State.

On 02/26/2015 11:40 PM, Karen Aram via Peace-discuss wrote:
> Tuesday on the AOTA program, I referred to a law that prevents the 
> military from "controlling our streets", "control" that is meant for 
> police or national guard. I couldn't remember the Latin name.
> This is in no way affiliated with the right wing vigilante group who 
> in 1969 took the same name.
>
> It is as above Posse Comitatus, and was initially enacted at the end 
> of reconstruction. Please see below a brief description by Wikipedia.
>
> I raise this issue because I would think it should also apply to the 
> militarization of our police departments when we supply them with 
> military equipment, weapons and training to control our streets. Just 
> a thought, and maybe a stretch.
>
> A lawyer would be able to ascertain whether it could be used to 
> challenge what is happening to police departments across the nation.
>
>   Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> This article is about the Posse Comitatus Act in the United States. 
> For other uses of /posse comitatus/, see Posse comitatus 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_comitatus_%28disambiguation%29>.
> The *Posse Comitatus Act* is the United States federal law 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_law> (18 U.S.C. 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_18_of_the_United_States_Code> 
> § 1385 <http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1385.html>, original at 
> 20 Stat. 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Statutes_at_Large> 152 
> <http://legislink.org/us/stat-20-152>) that was passed on June 18, 
> 1878, after the end of Reconstruction 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_era_of_the_United_States> 
> and was updated in 1981. The purpose of the act (in concert with the 
> Insurrection Act of 1807 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection_Act>) is to limit the 
> powers of Federal government 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_government_of_the_United_States> 
> in using its military personnel 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Armed_Forces> to enforce the state 
> laws <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_law_%28United_States%29>.
> The Act does not apply to the Army and Air National Guard 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Guard_of_the_United_States> 
> under state authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within 
> its home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state's 
> governor. The United States Coast Guard 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Coast_Guard>, which 
> operates under the Department of Homeland Security 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Homeland_Security>, is not 
> covered by the Posse Comitatus Act either, primarily because although 
> the Coast Guard is an armed service, it also has both a maritime law 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiralty_law> enforcement mission and a 
> federal regulatory agency mission. While the Act does not explicitly 
> mention the naval services (United States Navy 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy> and the United 
> States Marine Corps 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps>), the 
> Department of the Navy has prescribed regulations that are generally 
> construed to give the Act force with respect to those services as well.
>
>
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