If you’ve been paying attention to President Donald Trump’s vows to deploy active-duty soldiers to police American cities, mainly governed by Democrats, then you’ve probably heard two words pop up over and over again.

That’s Posse Comitatus. And it’s most often mentioned as a constraint on presidential power and the limitation of the military to operate on American soil.

Here’s a quick look at what the phrase means, how it works, and how it affects you.

The Posse Comitatus Act, passed by Congress and signed into law in 1878 , removed the U.S. military from regular civil law enforcement, according to a 1987 history published by The Journal of Criminal Justice.

It’s just one, unambiguous sentence long : “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Con

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