18 U.S.C. § 1385
Section 1385 · Use of Army and Air Force as posse comitatus
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 163 court decisions — leading case Robinson v. Overseas Military Sales Corp. (1994)
Most recently applied in Newsom v. Trump (June 2025)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 10 U.S.C. § 375 · 21 U.S.C. § 841 · 18 U.S.C. § 2
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, or the Space Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Revised Section
Source (U.S. Code)
Source (Statutes at Large)
1385
10:15.
June 18, 1878, ch. 263, § 15, 20 Stat. 152; Mar. 3, 1899, ch. 429, § 363 (proviso); added June 6, 1900, ch. 786, § 29 (less last proviso), 31 Stat. 330.
This section is revised to conform to the style and terminology used in title 18. It is not enacted as a part of title 10, United States Code, since it is more properly allocated to title 18.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2021—Pub. L. 117–81 substituted “Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force” for “Army and Air Force” in section catchline, and in text substituted “Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps,” for “Army or” and inserted “, or the Space Force” after “Air Force”.
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $10,000”.
1959—Pub. L. 86–70 struck out provisions which made section inapplicable in Alaska.