“The active duty military is restricted by something called Posse Comitatus”
Hate to break it to you, but Posse Comitatus is effectively repealed.
These changes were included in the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (H.R. 5122), which was signed into law on Oct 17, 2006, subsequently repealed Posse Comitatus in their entirety.
Section 1076 is titled “Use of the Armed Forces in major public emergencies”. It provided that: “The President may employ the armed forces... to... restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition... the President determines that... domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of maintaining public order... or [to] suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy if such... a condition... so hinders the execution of the laws... that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law... or opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.”
I stand partially corrected — Posse Comitatus would have still been in effect at the time of Katrina.
Thanks for the info, though. I had no idea it’d been repealed.
Now, that is frightening!
Good ol’ John Warner.
Don’t you just miss him already?
That was repealed in 2008.
That section was repealed in 2008, thereby restoring Posse Comitatus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection_Act#Repeal_of_amendments