Military participation in domestic operations was originally outlawed with the Posse Comitatus Act in 1878.

The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, however, included a section that allowed the president to deploy the armed forces to “restore public order” or to suppress “any insurrection.” While a later bill repealed this, President Bush attached a signing statement that he did not feel bound by the repeal.

"Invasion of the sea smurfs"