Posse Comitatus Act | Hacker News Reader

Posse Comitatus Act

en.wikipedia.org

57 pointstosh43 comments

I understand why you're posting it, and I agree with the point, but I must unfortunately point out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection_Act

Unless my reading of it is mistaken, the Insurrection Act Wikipedia article seems to indicate that the state governors would still have the ability to prevent the deployment of military forces into their states.

You want to review further down where it was used for civil rights with unwilling governors.

Ahh got it. Oh boy.

Oh, boy is right. Trump would really be twisting this in a very bad direction if he invokes this.

There’s no easy way back down from where we’re at.

> It further allows for the president to do the same in a state without the explicit consent of a state's government if it becomes impracticable to enforce federal laws through ordinary proceedings or if states are unable to safeguard its inhabitants' civil rights.

They certainly didn't have the consent of governors to desegregate the schools.

Also, a cattle rustler was convicted in North Dakota using evidence gathered from a DOD Predator Drone. Some folks probably should have protested that.

This might be relevant:

> There are a number of situations in which the Act does not apply. These include: > Provide surveillance, intelligence gathering, observation, and equipment for domestic law enforcement on operations such as drug interdiction and counter-terrorism missions.

Sadly already being used:

"Customs and Border Protection drone flew over Minneapolis to provide live video to law enforcement"

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/politics/cbp-drone-minneapoli...

The "sad" part is the innocent victims whose property has been trashed by blatantly illegal activity.

I speak as one who has protested, when legitimate protest spoke out against tyranny AND managed to leave public spaces cleaner than found (!).

Floyd's death was tragic. The last week of illegal activity is tangentially related at best.

As I read it, the Posse Comitatus Act limits the scope of the Insurrection Act. Also:

"The general purpose of the Insurrection Act is to limit presidential power, relying on state and local governments for initial response in the event of insurrection. The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the use of the United States Army and Air Force (which has also been extended by executive direction to the Navy) for routine law enforcement."

Why is this being posted ?

I didn't post it, but it's relevant today.

Trump tweet-threatened to use the US military in cities where governors have not deployed the National Guard.

Glancing at your comments, it does seem like you're conscious of US politics. Do you think it shouldn't be posted because it doesn't seem relevant to the current situation, or because you disagree with the connotations of a legal restriction on this particular use of force?

It has nothing to do with technology and it isn’t relevant because of the Insurrection Act. At best this link is just misinforming people. See the Reuter’s article below.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protes...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com