Scott Gurvey's Public Offerings

Take a good look at the picture above. We have never seen anything like it.

It comes from the web site of the British news service Reuters. It is a still image taken from about a minute of video. The video and the accompanying reporting should set off warning alarms across the United States. Read the Reuters article and see the full video here. I’m ready to nominate the Reuters’ team for a Pulitzer Prize.

Reuters says the video shows U.S. Marines deployed to Los Angeles detaining an American citizen. This, it is believed, has never happened before.

If you appreciate the history of the United States, you will understand the significance of the line which has been crossed. Unlike so many countries, where military forces either run the nation or control who does, the United States has always kept its military in the background. In the United States, the Army is subservient to the elected civilian leaders.

This is not simply a matter of tradition. It is a matter of law. The Posse Comitatus Act bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement except when expressly authorized by law.

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.

18 U.S. Code § 1385 – Use of Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force as posse comitatus

The Marines who blatantly violated this law did so on orders from Donald Trump, who sent them to Los Angeles to function as police officers without citing any authority that might be taken to override restrictions on a military posse comitatus. Nor did he invoke another statute, 10 U.S.C. Sub A Chapter 13 Pt I – Insurrection, which might give him some cover in sending the Marines and federalizing the California National Guard over the objections of the Governor of California. Trump just asserted his right to do so.

The disposition of lawsuits filed by California against Trump for these actions is pending. It is likely to wind up before the Supreme Court. Already a District Court has ruled emphatically against Trump. The case is on appeal.

Ironically, the man the Marines detained is a U.S. Army veteran. He is also an immigrant who obtained U.S. citizenship by virtue of his military service on behalf of his adopted country. Marcos Leao, 27, was in the area of the federal buildings in Los Angeles, where there have been protests of Trump administration immigrant round-ups and the Marines are deployed, because he had business at the Veteran’s Aministration offices in those buildings. The Marines restrained his hands with zip ties and handed him over to agents of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) nearly two hours later.

Leao, questioned by Reuters, said he complied with all commands and that the Marines apparently mistook him for a protester. “They treated me very fairly,” Leao said, adding that he was told, “Understand, this is a whole stressful situation for everybody, and we all have a job.”

It should not end here, but it probably will. The Marines were of course only following orders. Obeying orders from commanders is a requirement drilled into soldiers from day one. Question orders and people can get killed. These orders came all the way from the commander-in-chief.

But I have always believed the wording of Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) put soldiers between the proverbial rock and hard place. The text of 10 USC 892: Art. 92. Failure to obey order or regulation doesn’t say “any order”, it says, “any lawful general order….” Its that little extra word, “lawful”, that creates the ambiguity. Was Trump’s order lawful? The courts will decide.

Maybe. The UCMJ is administered within the military by military lawyers, the Judge Advocate Generals (JAG Corp). During his first term Trump found the JAG officers questioning the legality of some of his wilder ideas and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper got himself fired for resisting some Trump notions, such as shooting anti-administration protestors in the legs.

This time around Trump and his compliant Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the top military legal officers for the Army, Navy, and Air Force in February 2025. Their removal has raised concerns about the politicization of military legal oversight. Hegseth stated that the firings were necessary because these officers could have posed “roadblocks to orders given by the commander in chief”. Yeah. Like the law and the Constitution and their oaths of office require them to do.

As for the civilians involved, their crimes would have to be charged by Trump’s personal lawyer now his Attorney General Pam Bondi. They would first be investigated by the FBI, now run by Trump sycophants Kash Patel and Dan Bongino. Good luck with that. And as to Trump himself, remember the conservative cabal on the Supreme Court says you can’t touch a president. The only recourse is impeachment by the Congress. Can the Democrats win control at least of the House of Representatives next year and begin proceedings? We shall see.

The Marine Hymn begins with the words, “From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli”. A salute to the far-flung places where this distinguished group of patriots has put their lives on the line to defend, We the People of the United States of America. Now we will have to add “Los Angeles” to that list. It is a sad day for the Marines. And for the nation.

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