the Importance of Posse Comitatus

The Washington University Law Quarterly ^ | Summer 1997 | Matthew Carlton Hammond

[SusanD]

In response to the military presence in the Southern States during the Reconstruction Era, Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act[1] ("PCA" or the "Act") to prohibit the use of the Army in civilian law enforcement. The Act embodies the traditional American principle of separating civilian and military authority and currently forbids the use of the Army and Air Force to enforce civilian laws.

[SusanD]

The posse comitatus act is an act which seeks to assure that there will never be a military takeover of the United States by a sitting president. That is the law which complicated the president's ability to act in New Orleans without the request of the Governor or the Mayor. Because of the complete breakdown of law and order in New Orleans, federal troops would, of necessity, have been enforcing the laws. This article was written a while ago , long before Hurricane Katrina, but it warns us not to sacrifice an important principle because of a governor and mayor who couldn't get their acts together.

[McGavin999]

Yep, and just watch, the next power grab by the dems in the senate will be an attempt to wrest the power out of the hands of the governors and give it to the federal government.

I expect that the howl that will go up from the other governors will make it abudantly clear just whose resposibility it was.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Bump & ping.

[Jasper]

Susan, thanks for the timely post.

Bump and bookmarked for future reference and comment.

/jasper

[Squantos]

Pretty much wordsmithing these days Susan....Posse Comitatus Act prohibited me from making an arrest as a military serviceman deployed to a disaster site or anti-terror operation or any other non DOD property but I was authorized to "detain for my own protection"......cops call it aresst, the DOD calls it detained for the individuals protection. Both involved handcuffs, guns and badguys going to jail .....

In my old EOD job we had to join the reserves of the local sheriff departments, get commissioned as deputies and act as that departments "bomb squad" to again preclude the Posse Comitatus Act.

The DOD JAG's always got around this for all involved to preclude any violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.....just how I saw it "countered" or abused per se......

[Racehorse]

In response to the military presence in the Southern States during the Reconstruction Era, Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act . . . to prohibit the use of the Army in civilian law enforcement.

Life during Reconstruction left a foul stench over the Republican Party in the South.  Here in Texas, once Reconstruction ended, just about a hundred years passed before another Republican was elected governor.  Indeed, winning the Democratic primary for any local or state office was tantamount to election.

[SevenDaysInMay]

Imagine Hitlary's Politburo again planning to demonstrate their Police Powers in their next Mt. Carmel prime-time show slaughter. Reno claimed to have "rented" the military to assault the Branch Davidians to bypass P.C., aka the limits on the federal's Posse.

Sheeple are willing to be victims.

[hosepipe]

Posse Comitatus is as valid as the Constitution is.. and we all know the Constitution has become whatever the Supremes say it is.. Two RINOs as the new Supremes will make posse comitatus->> Posse Barney Fifus.. without the charm..

[Major_Risktaker]

McGavin999 wrote:
Yep, and just watch, the next power grab by the dems in the senate will be an attempt to wrest the power out of the hands of the governors and give it to the federal government.

_______________________

I was think the same thing listening to Mary Landspieu today on Fox. I thought she wanted a dictatorship as in the Roman Empire as all governorships were appointed by Rome to their territories.

Landspieu spoke as if all evacuating decisions were to made in Washington DC right down to hiring drivers and busing people out with no locale authority.

Landspieu forgot her sodium pentathol in her coffee today. Oh yeah, being Liberal means you can lie about anything and make up your own facts to suit your needs at any given point during an interview.

__________________________

Mary Landrieu once again blamed the White House, saying:

Saying she was unwilling to criticize Louisiana officials, the Louisiana Democrat insisted that Mayor Nagin's evacuation efforts had been a smashing success.

"Because the mayor evacuated the city, we had the best evacuation . . . of any evacuation I've seen. I'm 50 years old; I've never seen one any better," Landrieu told FNS.

Later Mary Said:

"They did [have] a hundred thousand people left in the city because this federal government won't support cities to evacuate people, whether it's from earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes. And that's the truth."

[tkathy]

I would be willing to bet that the Posse C act was passed by democrats of the time.

[Interesting Times]

Ping.

[Don Carlos]

The PCA was/is an excellent method of putting the brakes on Federal power. Some of our neighbors south of the Rio Grande would have become much more prosperous nations if they had limited their own governments.

Pity, though, that there wasn't a provision included that would have covered total incompetence by local state officials!

[HamiltonJay]

THe nation lasted nearly 100 years without Posse Comitatis.... and while there is definately a need to keep the use of the military in check... it also restricts the ability to enforce law, when it is needed.

As far as I am concerned we should be just as able to call in the military to clean up gangs and domestic terrorists in urban cities as we can terrorists elsewhere.

When traditional law enforcment cannot get the job done due to resources or equipment, assistance from the military should be able to be requested.

[zot]

Thanks for the ping. In addition to their all-out effort to paint the federal response as slow, the rats will probably try to impeach President Bush for violation of the Posse Comitatus Act because he sent in members of the 82nd Airborne with helicopters.