Posse Comitatus Act Research Paper

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The Original Intent In 1878, the Posse Comitatus Act was passed with the intention of limiting the use of the Military in the recent decisions regarding black freedmen and their ability to vote. Obviously, this act has a much broader purpose and application, but the original intent was as stated. Additionally, the creation of the act was somewhat founded in the way Americans felt about the use of the British military and the way they were used against Americans prior to our independence (Somerville, n.d.).
Today’s Application In today’s times, the use of the Military for Law Enforcement purposes is still strictly limited per the act. The exceptions are the use of the Coast Guard during peacetime and the use of the National Guard for law enforcement purposes within their state based on an activation by the governor (2013). As we have witnessed recently, there are times that National Guards from one state may be used in another state, however they are strictly limited to humanitarian efforts only (Hunter, 2018). As for the use of the Department of Defense [DOD] following a disaster, I don’t see any way that it would conflict with the Posse Comitatus Act as long as the efforts are …show more content…

Military to ever take on a law enforcement role with the boundaries of the United States. To put it another way, our country and our states have multiple levels of law enforcement agencies that can handle any situation they are presented with. Some agencies specialize in specific areas, while others provide more of general service. Each state has basically mirrored its’ approach to law enforcement in many ways based on the federal approach. Meaning, most states have a state bureau of investigation, a state office of homeland security, state level emergency management agencies and general service state police agencies. It is for the this reason that there should never be a need for the U.S. Military to take on a law enforcement

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