The provision, signed into law in October, weakens two obscure but important bulwarks of liberty. One is the doctrine that bars military forces, including a federalized National Guard, from engaging in law enforcement. Called posse comitatus, it was enshrined in law after the Civil War to preserve the line between civil government and the military. The other is the Insurrection Act of 1807, which provides the major exemptions to posse comitatus. It essentially limits a president’s use of the military in law enforcement to putting down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion, where a state is violating federal law or depriving people of constitutional rights. The newly enacted provisions upset this careful balance. They shift the focus from making sure that federal laws are enforced to restoring public order. Beyond cases of actual insurrection, the president may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or to any "other condition."

This editorial rings the alarm bells and praises GOP Representative Tom Davis who, like Senators Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, and Christopher Bond, Republican of Missouri, are pushing bills that would repeal these over-reaching provisions.

Although America is technically involved in an undeclared "war on terrorism," American citizens stand to suffer more from another undeclared war: one that threatens their civil rights with burgeoning, uncontrolled and unaccountable federal government involvement at every level of American life... Governors know best what is best for the residents of their states, not the president, whose power is growing more dictatorial with each signing statement. We support Davis and his committee's efforts to repeal the law allowing over-broad federalization of military troops.

The Hill had more on this earlier this month:

Backed by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the National Guard community, Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.), co-chairmen of the National Guard Caucus, introduced a bill this week to revive the previous authority on the domestic use of the military. The legislation has been referred to the Armed Services Committee, where it will probably face some opposition from Warner and Levin, who said that the provision clarifies existing law and does not give the president powers at the expense of the governors. Leahy disagrees. "Expanding the president’s powers under the Insurrection Act was a sweeping, ill-considered and little-noticed grant of authority to the executive branch, at the expense of the National Guard and the governors," he said. "That change in longstanding law treads heavily across basic constitutional issues relating to the rights of the people, the separation of powers, and state and local sovereignty."

Disappointingly, my own Senator Carl Levin helped write this ill-advised provision. And though this story has I'm sure been diaried here before, it merits ongoing attention as the MSM picks up the lead and (hopefully) runs with it further.