Obama Administration Says President Can Use Lethal Force Against Americans on US Soil

[SpartanDem]

62. The Posse Comitatus Act.

despite popular belief doesn't prohibit the military from being used as law enforcement, it says that with certain exceptions that it requires an act of Congress.

Secondly, this isn't about Bush, this about people taking an inflammatory headline using it to say the President is expanding his power. He just asserted that he already had this power. But would I have defended Bush in the exact same circumstance? Yes.


Now back to Posse Comitatus, as you can see the President does have very broad authority under the PCA.

The United States Congress has enacted a number of exceptions to the PCA that allow the military, in certain situations, to assist civilian law enforcement agencies in enforcing the laws of the U.S. The most common example is counterdrug assistance (Title 10 USC, Sections 371-381). Other examples include:

The Insurrection Act (Title 10 USC, Sections 331-335). This act allows the president to use U.S. military personnel at the request of a state legislature or governor to suppress insurrections. It also allows the president to use federal troops to enforce federal laws when rebellion against the authority of the U.S. makes it impracticable to enforce the laws of the U.S.

Assistance in the case of crimes involving nuclear materials (Title 18 USC, Section 831). This statute permits DoD personnel to assist the Justice Department in enforcing prohibitions regarding nuclear materials, when the attorney general and the secretary of defense jointly determine that an “emergency situation” exists that poses a serious threat to U.S. interests and is beyond the capability of civilian law enforcement agencies.

Emergency situations involving chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction (Title 10 USC, Section 382). When the attorney general and the secretary of defense jointly determine that an “emergency situation” exists that poses a serious threat to U.S. interests and is beyond the capability of civilian law enforcement agencies. DoD personnel may assist the Justice Department in enforcing prohibitions regarding biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction

http://www.northcom.mil/About/history_education/posse.html