Posted on 09/05/2005 4:40:15 AM PDT by BCrago66
§ 331. Federal aid for State governments
Whenever there is an insurrections in any State against its government, the President may, upon the request of its legislature or of its governor if the legislature cannot be convened, call into Federal service such of the militia of the other States, in the number requested by that State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to suppress the insurrection.
§ 332. Use of militia and armed forces to enforce Federal authority
Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State or Territory by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.
§ 333. Interference with State and Federal law
The President, by using the militia or the armed forces, or both, or by any other means, shall take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, if it—
(1) so hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or
(2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.
In any situation covered by clause (1), the State shall be considered to have denied the equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.
§ 334. Proclamation to disperse
Whenever the President considers it necessary to use the militia or the armed forces under this chapter, he shall, by proclamation, immediately order the insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their abodes within a limited time.
§ 335. Guam and Virgin Islands included as “State”
For purposes of this chapter, the term “State” includes the unincorporated territories of Guam and the Virgin Islands.
I'm just starting to look at these US Code provisions myself, but it looks like Section 331 covers the more standard situation in which the President deploys the National Guard and US Armed forces at the request/permission of a State, but the subsequent provisions:
1) Spell out conditions in which the Federal Government may deploy the National Guard and US Armed Forces without such State permission, and
2) Additionally spell out the scope or range of activity allowed to the federalized National Guard and US Armed Forces, after activated by the Federal Government.
Here's a page from a think tank called the Institute for Homeland Security (run by a private entity, but under contract with the US Government) spelling out (under "Emergency Legal Authorities") some additional legal grounds for Federal action without permission of a State.
This needs to be invoked against CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, etc...
Whoops. Here's that page from the Institute for Homeland Security that I referenced in the last sentence of the post immediately above:
http://www.homelandsecurity.org/bulletin/Primer_ChallengestoPreventionandPreparedness.htm
Actually, I think the case is made here that the president could have acted without the express permission of Governor Blanco.
Definitely.
It would take some pretty fancy arguing to make the case that these events constituted insurrection against the federal government.
"Then you'd have CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, etc saying W is a dictator"
And the first looter that is shot...
..."Bush shoots Black People".
Did you not read this section:
The President, by using the militia or the armed forces, or both, or by any other means, shall take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, if it—
The domestic violence alone qualified the federal government from taking proactive action.
Re: And the first looter that is shot... ..."Bush shoots Black People"
Couldn't he shoot the folks at CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, etc first? };^b)
I did read that section, particularly the domestic violence phrase. Was the domestic violence so outside the norm for our country that we had to have the feds step in? That's a hard case to argue.
Pick any large city over the same time period and the number of violent crimes and property crimes per capita were probably in the same range as in New Orleans. No one would imagine the feds taking over for that reason alone.
That's a hard case to argue? We had children and women being raped, FEMA had to withdraw from helping out in the largest natural disaster in our history and you think it's hard to argue the feds had the ability to step in without state approval? Okey doke.
I think saving some US citizens from the depredations of thugs and looters is worth taking a couple cheap shots from Ron Reagan Jr. or someone named Ashlee from MSNBC.
The same things happened in the same numbers in every big city in the USA during the same time period. If the argument applies to New Orleans it must also apply to every other jurisdiction. I think it's a hard case to argue.
You are correct. She had to be allowed to fail.
Nice job at taking just a part of my post.
I guess you missed the part where FEMA had to withdraw because they were shot at?
You have a strange world view, imo.
And I would argue that within a structure with 25,000 people, we have never seen the number of rapes that occurred within the Dome within such a short time period. And it was controllable, with the help of the feds.
Re:You are correct. She had to be allowed to fail.
Well, Governor Blanco sure did live up to her part...
The way I read the statute, Section 333, which includes the phrase "domistic violence," is spelling out what the federalized National Guard and the US Armed Forces may combat once they have already been deployed by the President, but it is not a condition or trigger allowing the President to federalize the National Guard and/or call in the US Armed Forces without the permission of a State in the first place.
That trigger is found in Section 332: "Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it IMPRACTIBLE TO ENFORCE THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES in any State or Territory by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings...."
The "laws of the United States" do not include rape, or even (in most cases) murder; however, there were gangs of thugs rather systematically committing federal crimes such as carjacking (and maybe "boat-jacking" is that's included within the federal carjacking statute) and also criminally interfering with the duties of those federal officials, including but not limited to FBI and FEMA officials, who were already on the ground during or immediately post-hurricane.
And as far as "the ordinary course of judicial proceedings" goes, the NO police were deserting, and both the State and Federal courts and detention centers were effectively shut down.
Plus, the courts typically are interpret the President's military authority, in general or under a particular statute, liberally.
So, IMHO, there was a sufficient predicate for the President to federalize the entire operation without LA Governor Blanco's permission.
One final point before I check out, at least for 6 or 7 hours:
It's quite possible the President used the authority provided to him by the Insurrenction Act without having to formally invoke it. That is, he said to Governor Blanco and joker mayor or NO, "Get the hell out of the way, or I'll invoke the Insurrection Act and legally push you out without a means to save face."
Evidence: The NO police, or what's left of it, is now completely off the streets, the official reason given by the NO Mayor being that they are exhausted and need couseling:
New Orleans police to be pulled off streets
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002472840_katrina05.html
The so-called domestic violence, is not looting...it could be construed to be the armed gangs...although the media could only verify one or two incidents themselves, the rest was second hand or rumour. I'm not sure that it was wide spread enough to become insurrection.
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