"The National Guard and Marines have no place in
local or Federal law enforcement" --- Ye Christ! ...
#### Salty
Originally Posted by Salty Again
Maybe you should try to educate yourself. The division of the military from civilian law enforcement has been around for some time in America. I would argue since the rebellion against the British army but it was codified in 1878.
Trump’s call up and federalization of the California National Guard has been done so on shaky legal grounds. There are very good reasons to limit the power of the federal government to use the military against its own citizens. Ignoring that line just to score political points is in my opinion unconstitutional. The current legal challenge will prove that.
The Posse Comitatus Act bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement except when expressly authorized by law. This 147-year-old law embodies an American tradition that sees military interference in civilian affairs as a threat to both democracy and personal liberty. However, recent events have revealed dangerous gaps in the law’s coverage
The Posse Comitatus Act was passed in 1878, after the end of Reconstruction and the return of white supremacists to political power in both southern states and Congress. Through the law, Congress sought to ensure that the federal military would not be used to intervene in the establishment of Jim Crow in the former Confederacy.
Despite the ignominious origins of the law itself, the broader principle that the military should not be allowed to interfere in the affairs of civilian government is a core American value. It finds expression in the Constitution’s division of power over the military between Congress and the president, and in the guarantees of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments, which were in part reactions to abuses committed by the British army against American colonists.
