Anti-Pinkerton Act

The Anti-Pinkerton Act was a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 1893 to limit the federal government's ability to hire private investigators or mercenaries.

Anti-Pinkerton Act

Other short titles	Sundry Civil Appropriations Act of 1893
Long title	An Act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	APA
Nicknames	Anti-Pinkerton Act of 1893
Enacted by	the 52nd United States Congress
Effective	March 3, 1893
Citations
Public law	52-208
Statutes at Large	27 Stat. 572 aka 27 Stat. 591
Codification
Titles amended	5 U.S.C.: Government Organization and Employees
U.S.C. sections created	5 U.S.C. ch. 31, subch. I § 3108
Legislative history
Signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison on March 3, 1893

The Anti-Pinkerton Act is contained within 5 U.S.C. 3108 and purports to specifically restrict the government of the United States (as well as that of the District of Columbia) from hiring employees of Pinkerton or similar organizations.

The first published court case interpreting the Act, in 1977, held that the intent of the Act was in reference to Pinkerton's activities at the time, offering quasi-military armed forces for hire in the context of strikebreaking (not least the Homestead strike in 1892), "and therefore had little application" to the current organization.[1]

In actuality, the United States government is a significant customer of private security services, and has made use of private military contractors in the past.