

The exemptions range from providing military personnel to protect national parks to helping states in carrying out state quarantine and health laws. The law prohibits the use of the military in civilian matters but, over time, Congress has passed at least 26 exemptions to the act that allow the president to send troops into states. The Posse Comitatus Act has not changed much since that time.

Two years later, Hayes signed into law the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibited the use of the military in civilian matters. That happened when, in return for agreeing to withdraw federal troops from the South, Democrats informally agreed to the election of Hayes when the disputed election was thrown to a congressional commission. The use of troops in this manner may even have influenced the outcome of the 1876 presidential election of Republican Rutherford B.

Troops serving as what’s called “posse comitatus,” which translates roughly to “attendants with the capacity to act,” could be called to suppress insurrections and help carry out federal laws.įollowing the Civil War, the national government used troops in this capacity to aid in Reconstruction efforts, particularly in states that had been part of the Confederacy. Constitution guarantees that the national government will protect the states in times of violence and permits Congress to enact laws that enable the military to aid in carrying out the law.Īlmost immediately after the Constitution’s enactment in 1787, Congress passed a law that allowed the president to use the military to respond to a series of citizen rebellions.
