Signed into law in 1878 at the end of “Reconstruction”, the Posse Comtatus Act forbade the Federal Government from employing U.S. military, air and navel forces ( the Coast Guard excepted) in the domistic enforcement of federal law. Which Southern ‘Democrat’ Congressmen and Senators meant the enforcement of Federal laws protecting the civil rights African Americans.
The country’s founders wanted the military to be under ‘civilian’ control so they made the POTUS the commander-in -chief . They were well versed in classical antiquity, in that huge armies would often place allegence to their commanding generals rather then a distant Senate or nominal king. Checks and balances were written into the Constitution to prevent an elected President from overstepping his powers and morph the country into a tin pot dictatorship like say…Venezuela.
Because the Posse Comitarus and Insurrection acts place limits on what the Federal Government i.e. the President can legally do, it is the responsibility of the state governors and city mayors to insure that public safety, the protection of privite property, and law and order is maintained.
The Posse Comitatus Act, the Insurrection Act, and National Guard policy place limits on the actions of National Guard forces when federalized and deployed by order of the president. In general, forces of the regular U.S. military and National Guard are limited to providing support and assistance to local and state law enforcement and public safety agencies. Such assistance typically includes protecting human life, protecting public and private property, and restoring and maintaining civil order. For example, the National Guard Reaction Force assists local police with activities such as providing site security, manning roadblocks and checkpoints, and protecting public and private property, including preventing looting.
More recently, on May 31, 2020, after a night of rioting in the wake of the death of George Floyd, the citizen-soldiers of the Minnesota National Guard carried out 19 missions assisting the Minneapolis and Saint Paul police and fire departments in transporting victims of violence to area hospitals, fighting fires, and restoring order in the area.
In deep blue states with leftist Democrat governors along with even deeper blue cities with radical leftist mayors, they ordered their National Guard and police forces to “stand down” and do nothing while their cities burned, and people killed.
The National Guardsmen of these “BLUE” states were forbidden by their superiors to ‘restore order, protect property, and save lives. And there was nothing that President Trump could legally do to stop it.
But Donald Trump is now President in exile. Puppet Joe is President. Is “Posse Comitatus” now out the window?
The estimable Sundance at Conservative Treehouse thinks so and recently posted a blunt warning that the Democrats’ overt politicization of the U.S. military (its staged Capitol encampment, ideological purge of Trump voters, and shameful public battles with conservative news pundits and Republican lawmakers) should be seen as part of a larger strategy by the centralized government in D.C. to prepare for the use of military force against individual states and regions of the country that may choose to push back against unconstitutional federal power grabs in the future. Now that the pretext of using troops to put down MAGA “insurrectionists” has been established, it will be ignominiously used to justify military support for confiscating guns, enforcing extended pandemic lockdowns, and identifying Americans too attached to the Bill of Rights. (The fact that Sundance chose the Ides of March to outline the likelihood of such an intimate betrayal by the military against the states is, I suspect, no coincidence for a meticulous writer who enjoys reaching readers on an emotional, as well as an intellectual, level.)
I think things are going to get pretty scary over the next few years.
I’m glad I’m old.