posse comitatus

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posse com·i·ta·tus

(kŏm′ĭ-tā′təs)

[Medieval Latin posse comitātūs : Medieval Latin posse, power, body of men (from Latin, to be able; see potent) + comitātūs, genitive of comitātus, county, territory of a count; see county.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Posse Comitatus

the body of men over the age of fifteen which the sheriff of an English county could raise as a force in a crisis, 1285.

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Noun

posse comitatus - a temporary police force

posse

constabulary, police, police force, law - the force of policemen and officers; "the law came looking for him"

posseman - an able-bodied man serving as a member of a posse

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In order to cast an odium upon the power of calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, it has been remarked that there is nowhere any provision in the proposed Constitution for calling out the POSSE COMITATUS, to assist the magistrate in the execution of his duty, whence it has been inferred, that military force was intended to be his only auxiliary.

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A good deal was said about sending for the sheriff; some hints were given about calling out the posse comitatus to avenge the insulted laws; and many of the citizens were collected, deliberating how to proceed.

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They are the standing army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc.

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The Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law on the books since the 1870s, restricts using the U.S.

Pentagon to send more troops to Mexico border, some in contact with migrants

The order to allow the military to use lethal force will likely be challenged in court, with activists saying it would violate the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act which bars active military from engaging in domestic law enforcement.

US President: Military Will Use Lethal Force at Mexico Border If Needed

official said the troops' role will be designed so that the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law that limits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement operations, is not violated.

Trump considering plan to ban entry of migrants at southern border, deny asylum

Code, Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Section 1385, "Posse Comitatus Act."

Preparing for Mission Command of DCRF Operations

Whereas America's Posse Comitatus Act specifically bans the U.S.

Moral importance of war

The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act prevents the president from sending in the National Guard without a request by a governor--see the chapter on Hurricane Katrina.

Save yourself

It invokes the needs of the armed forces, although on a following line item, it places Argentine-US 'cooperation' in the context of the global fight against problems such as terrorism, drug trafficking, and organized crime that, in reality, are major security challenges." The expert said that "in the Argentine case, since the advent of democracy (following the dictatorship of 1976-1983) and in the United States through the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 (which established strict limits on the federal government's use of the military as a police force) there is a clear distinction of functions and attributions between defense and domestic security," something that Lousteau seems to ignore.

Argentine Ambassador dismissed over lobbying U.S. for Armaments

Dowell, Jr., takes a fresh look at the merging of military capabilities in law enforcement and the potential implications for the Posse Comitatus Act.