Posse Comitatus Act
E583722
The Posse Comitatus Act is a U.S. federal law that generally prohibits the use of the Army and Air Force for domestic law enforcement, reinforcing the separation between military and civilian authority.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Posse Comitatus Act canonical | 1 |
| Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T6326532 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Posse Comitatus Act Context triple: [United States national security law, keyStatute, Posse Comitatus Act]
-
A.
U.S. War Powers Resolution
The U.S. War Powers Resolution is a 1973 federal law intended to limit the president’s ability to commit U.S. armed forces to hostilities without congressional authorization, enacted in response to concerns raised by the Vietnam War.
-
B.
National Security Act of 1947
The National Security Act of 1947 is a landmark U.S. law that reorganized the nation’s military and intelligence structure, creating institutions such as the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
-
C.
National Defense Authorization Acts
The National Defense Authorization Acts are annual U.S. federal laws that authorize and set policies and budgets for the Department of Defense and national security programs.
-
D.
Internal Security Act of 1950
The Internal Security Act of 1950 was a Cold War-era U.S. law aimed at combating perceived communist subversion by requiring communist organizations to register with the government and authorizing heightened surveillance and detention powers.
-
E.
Smith Act
The Smith Act is a 1940 U.S. federal law that criminalized advocating the violent overthrow of the government and was widely used during the early Cold War to prosecute suspected communists.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Posse Comitatus Act Target entity description: The Posse Comitatus Act is a U.S. federal law that generally prohibits the use of the Army and Air Force for domestic law enforcement, reinforcing the separation between military and civilian authority.
-
A.
U.S. War Powers Resolution
The U.S. War Powers Resolution is a 1973 federal law intended to limit the president’s ability to commit U.S. armed forces to hostilities without congressional authorization, enacted in response to concerns raised by the Vietnam War.
-
B.
National Security Act of 1947
The National Security Act of 1947 is a landmark U.S. law that reorganized the nation’s military and intelligence structure, creating institutions such as the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
-
C.
National Defense Authorization Acts
The National Defense Authorization Acts are annual U.S. federal laws that authorize and set policies and budgets for the Department of Defense and national security programs.
-
D.
Internal Security Act of 1950
The Internal Security Act of 1950 was a Cold War-era U.S. law aimed at combating perceived communist subversion by requiring communist organizations to register with the government and authorizing heightened surveillance and detention powers.
-
E.
Smith Act
The Smith Act is a 1940 U.S. federal law that criminalized advocating the violent overthrow of the government and was widely used during the early Cold War to prosecute suspected communists.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States federal law
ⓘ
statute ⓘ |
| allowsException |
actions expressly authorized by an Act of Congress
ⓘ
actions expressly authorized by the U.S. Constitution ⓘ |
| amendedToInclude | United States Air Force NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
United States Air Force
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
United States Army NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| citedIn |
U.S. debates on military involvement in border security
ⓘ
U.S. debates on military response to civil disturbances ⓘ |
| codifiedInSection | 18 U.S.C. § 1385 ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| doesNotApplyTo |
National Guard under state authority
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
state defense forces ⓘ |
| doesNotDirectlyApplyTo |
United States Marine Corps
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
United States Navy NERFINISHED ⓘ United States Space Force NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| enactmentDate | 1878-06-18 ⓘ |
| enforcedBy | United States Department of Justice NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasBeenAmended | yes ⓘ |
| historicalContext | post-Reconstruction era in the United States ⓘ |
| influencedApplicationOf |
United States Marine Corps
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
United States Navy NERFINISHED ⓘ United States Space Force NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| interpretedBy | United States federal courts NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| jurisdiction |
United States government
ⓘ
surface form:
federal government of the United States
|
| language | English ⓘ |
| legalDomain |
constitutional law
ⓘ
criminal law ⓘ military law ⓘ |
| motivatedBy | concerns about federal troops enforcing laws in former Confederate states ⓘ |
| originallyEnactedAs | Section 15 of the Army Appropriations Act of 1878 NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| prohibits |
use of the U.S. Air Force to execute domestic laws except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress
ⓘ
use of the U.S. Army to execute domestic laws except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress ⓘ |
| purpose |
to limit the use of the U.S. Army in domestic law enforcement
ⓘ
to reinforce the separation between military and civilian authority in the United States ⓘ |
| reinforcesPrinciple |
civilian control of the military
ⓘ
separation between military and civilian authority ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Insurrection Act of 1807
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
civil-military relations in the United States ⓘ domestic law enforcement ⓘ military support to civil authorities ⓘ |
| shortTitle | Posse Comitatus Act NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| signedBy | Rutherford B. Hayes NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| violationPenalty |
fine under Title 18 of the United States Code
ⓘ
imprisonment under Title 18 of the United States Code ⓘ |
| yearEnacted | 1878 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Posse Comitatus Act Description of subject: The Posse Comitatus Act is a U.S. federal law that generally prohibits the use of the Army and Air Force for domestic law enforcement, reinforcing the separation between military and civilian authority.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Posse Comitatus Act of 1878