Opinion of the Logan Act
       |           

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 19, 2024, 06:40:40 AM
News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more

  Talk Elections
  General Discussion
  Constitution and Law (Moderator: World politics is up Schmitt creek)
  Opinion of the Logan Act
« previous next »
Pages: [1]
Author Topic: Opinion of the Logan Act  (Read 1060 times)
DownWithTheLeft
downwithdaleft
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 18,548
Italy


Political Matrix
E: 9.16, S: -3.13

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« on: April 07, 2007, 09:36:18 AM »

Could someone explain this a bit further because from what I'm reading it seems Nancy Pelosi clearly violated it.
Logged
Gabu
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 28,388
Canada


Political Matrix
E: -4.32, S: -6.52

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2007, 04:18:58 PM »

Some context should really be given regarding the Logan Act.  It was passed in 1799, during heightened tensions between the United States and France, and was passed in response to the meeting of a man named Dr. George Logan with French officials in an attempt to assuage tensions between the countries.  The Federalists in Congress, who held a majority at the time, essentially rammed the Logan Act through Congress because they didn't like the praise showered on Logan by the minority Democratic-Republicans.  The Logan Act was described as an "act to curb the temerity and impudence of individuals affecting to interfere in public affairs between France and the United States".

Though the Logan Act specifically lays out the punishment to be meted out to individuals in violation of it, there have never been a single prosecution under it, and there has only been one single indictment under it, and that occurred in 1803.  An attempt was made by Rep. Sensenbrenner (R-WI) in 2006 to update the Logan Act to only cover those who make knowingly false statements in an effort to influence relations between the United States and another country, but it wasn't passed.

At any rate, it's quite clear that any attempt to prosecute someone under the Logan Act is an ultimately futile effort, and would more likely get the act rendered unconstitutional than anything else.
Logged
Pages: [1]  
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Terms of Service - DMCA Agent and Policy - Privacy Policy and Cookies

Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Page created in 0.216 seconds with 12 queries.