Posse Comitatus Act
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This article is about the Posse Comitatus Act in the United States. For other uses of posse comitatus, see Posse comitatus.
Posse Comitatus Act
Great Seal of the United States
Other short titles
Knott Amendment
Posse Comitatus Act of 1878
Long title An act making appropriations for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-nine, and for other purposes.
Nicknames Army Appropriations Act of 1878
Enacted by the 45th United States Congress
Effective June 18, 1878
Citations
Public law 45-263
Statutes at Large 20 Stat. 145 aka 20 Stat. 152
Codification
U.S.C. sections created 18 U.S.C. § 1385
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 4867 by Herman L. Humphrey (R-WI), William Kimmel (D-MD) on May 13, 1878
Passed the House on May 18, 1878 (130–117)
Passed the Senate on June 6, 1878 (36–23)
Reported by the joint conference committee on June 15, 1878; agreed to by the House on June 15, 1878 (154–58) and by the Senate on June 15, 1878 (Agreed)
Signed into law by President Rutherford B. Hayes on June 18, 1878
Major amendments
1956, 1981
The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385, original at 20 Stat. 152) signed on June 18, 1878 by President Rutherford B. Hayes. The purpose of the act – in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807 – is to limit the powers of the federal government in using federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. It was passed as an amendment to an army appropriation bill following the end of Reconstruction and was subsequently updated in 1956 and 1981.
The act only specifically applies to the United States Army and, as amended in 1956, the United States Air Force. While the act does not explicitly mention the United States Navy and the 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. The act does not apply to the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard 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, which operates under the 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 enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency mission.
The title of the act comes from the legal concept of posse comitatus, the authority under which a county sheriff, or other law officer, conscripts any able-bodied man to assist him or her in keeping the peace.
Contents
1 History
2 Legislation
2.1 Recent legislative events
3 Exclusions and limitations
3.1 Exclusion applicable to U.S. Coast Guard
3.2 Advisory and support roles
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links
History[edit]
The Act, § 15 of the appropriations bill for the Army for 1879, found at 20 Stat. 152, was a response to, and subsequent prohibition of, the military occupation of the former Confederate States by the United States Army during the twelve years of Reconstruction (1865–1877) following the American Civil War (1861–1865). The president withdrew federal troops from the Southern States as a result of a compromise in one of the most disputed national elections in American history, the 1876 U.S. presidential election. Samuel J. Tilden of New York, the Democratic candidate, defeated Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio in the popular vote. Tilden garnered 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165; 20 disputed electoral votes remained uncounted. After a bitter fight, Congress struck a deal resolving the dispute and awarded the presidency to Hayes.
In return for Southern acquiescence regarding Hayes, Republicans agreed to support the withdrawal of federal troops from the former Confederate States, formally ending Reconstruction. Known as the Compromise of 1877, South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana agreed to certify Rutherford B. Hayes as the president in exchange for the removal of federal troops from the South.[1]