The Posse Comitatus Act (PCA), codified in 18 U.S.C. 1385, is a federal law limiting the use of the U.S. military as part of domestic law enforcement. It prohibits the president from unilaterally deploying federal troops or the National Guard to states in order to fight local crime. An exception is based on the Insurrection Act, allowing the president exclusive authority to deploy troops to prevent rebellions intended to overthrow the government.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted “every single order given to the U.S. military by the president and through the chain of command is lawful.”
Not true and indisputably illegal according to the PCA. As far as any exception, there’s been absolutely no proof of rebellion in cities where Trump has so far deployed the military. Nothing coming anywhere near the Jan. 6, 2021, Trump-promoted insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump recently accused Sen. Mark Kelly of “seditious behavior, punishable by death” for participating in a video urging soldiers to disobey illegal orders as required in the Uniform Code of Military Justice; taught and agreed to uphold by every service member of the U.S. military.
Kelly was therefore totally justified in warning against obeying unlawful orders based in part on the illegality of the president deploying the U.S. military to quash nonexistent insurrections.
Raymond A. Hult, Bountiful
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