"In a just United States, yesterday's ruling from Judge Charles Breyer that the government violated the Posse Comitatus Act by invading Los Angeles would result in Whiskey Pete Hegseth landing in prison for two years. That's the punishment for committing the crime of violating the PCA. And Breyer's opinion clearly implicates Hegseth, personally, in breaking the law in two ways."
"Although the training materials list twelve prohibited functions, Task Force 51 troops were orally instructed that the four functions listed in red-security patrols, traffic control, crowd control, and riot control-were subject to a so-called constitutional exception to the Posse Comitatus Act. Id.; Trial Tr. Vol. II (dkt. 163) at 236:25-238:11; Trial Tr. Vol. I at 60:12-63:12, 63:17-25. This instruction came "all the way from the top of [the Department of Defense] down to Task Force 51."1"
A court found that deploying military personnel into Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act. Task Force 51 training materials listed twelve prohibited law-enforcement functions while oral instructions claimed four exceptions—security patrols, traffic control, crowd control, and riot control—fell under a supposed constitutional exception incompatible with the Act. Testimony placed those oral instructions at the highest Department of Defense levels. The ruling names Whiskey Pete Hegseth as ordering an incursion into MacArthur Park lacking lawful purpose. Task Force 51 troops also participated in a Department of Homeland Security operation, evidencing deployments beyond support for federal law enforcement.
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