superrific
Master of the ZZLverse
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It depends on the military unit, IIRC, but generally yes. Here is the specific language:They don't have the legal right to do anything, I'm pretty sure. I actually think they are prohibited from any law enforcement duties, barring the declaration of martial law.
The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to ensure that any activity (including the provision of any equipment or facility or the assignment or detail of any personnel) under this chapter does not include or permit direct participation by a member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps in a search, seizure, arrest, or other similar activity unless participation in such activity by such member is otherwise authorized by law.
Obviously if the military unit had been fired upon, it can defend itself and I think in those cases, it can then take people into custody (though idk if as combatants or arrestees). The word "direct" there is not insignificant -- it's what would allow the unit to call the sheriff and tell him to come arrest these idiots.
Terminology note: in law, we use the phrase "right" to denote abilities that citizens have to oppose actions by the government. Those actions are referred to as "powers." So we would say that the military unit lacked the power (or authorization, which might be more appropriate in this case) to arrest them. This is not important to your point and does not affect it. It's just helpful, I think, to use the best terminology when talking about concepts as fundamental as this. Rights are things that citizens have; powers are things that governments have. In the context of interbranch disputes (i.e. whether Congress can delegate powers to an executive agency, and whether that agency's powers can exceed the judiciary's powers in any context), the rights language can be used (e.g. "Congress has the right to rely on specialized agencies to promulgate rules of a technical capacity that Congress itself could not form for lack of expertise) but that's different.
To reiterate: I'm not chastising. I'm simply using this as an opportunity to offer some thoughts to the broader audience.