[Peace-discuss] Making Martial Law Easier

[Barbara kessel]

Making Martial Law Easier
    The New York Times | Editorial

    Monday 19 February 2007

    A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that
strike to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead
of night. So it was with a provision quietly tucked into the enormous
defense budget bill at the Bush administration's behest that makes it
easier for a president to override local control of law enforcement
and declare martial law.

    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."

    Changes of this magnitude should be made only after a thorough
public airing. But these new presidential powers were slipped into the
law without hearings or public debate. The president made no mention
of the changes when he signed the measure, and neither the White House
nor Congress consulted in advance with the nation's governors.

    There is a bipartisan bill, introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy,
Democrat of Vermont, and Christopher Bond, Republican of Missouri, and
backed unanimously by the nation's governors, that would repeal the
stealthy revisions. Congress should pass it. If changes of this kind
are proposed in the future, they must get a full and open debate.