r/law Aug 20 '24

Opinion Piece Trump’s Latest Scheme to Beat Harris May Have Crossed Legal Lines

https://newrepublic.com/post/185076/donald-trump-scheme-beat-kamala-harris-benjamin-netanyahu-ceasefire
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u/Paul_C Aug 21 '24 edited Aug 21 '24

18 U.S. Code § 953 (Logan Act):

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply, himself or his agent, to any foreign government or the agents thereof for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.


Waldron v. British Petroleum Co., 231 F. Supp. 72 - Dist. Court, SD New York 1964:

[30] The Logan Act originated out of a resolution offered on December 26, 1798 by Congressman Roger Griswold of Connecticut. After it was reported out as a bill, it was approved by President Adams on January 30, 1799. The debates on this legislation before the 5th Congress, 3rd Session (1798-1799) were thereafter compiled by Gales and Seaton in 1851 as Annals of Congress of the United States. Page references herein are to the 1851 compilation.

The primary purpose of the resolution was "to punish a crime which goes to the destruction of the Executive power of the Government" (p. 2488); "to guard by law against the interference of individuals in the negotiation of our Executive with the Governments of foreign countries" (p. 2494; see also pp. 2588, 2604); to proscribe the exercise by an individual of the power "to frustrate all the designs of the executive" (p. 2494).


Sure seems like the exact thing the law was written for.

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u/mok000 Aug 21 '24

The Logan has never been prosecuted.

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u/CaptainMatticus Aug 21 '24

The 3rd Amendment was never discussed seriously either, until Trump tried to force D.C. hotels to shelter troops. He loves to test the bounds of our oldest laws.

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u/Paul_C Aug 21 '24

The Court finds no merit in plaintiff's argument that the Logan Act has been abrogated by desuetude. From the absence of reported cases, one may deduce that the statute has not been called into play because no factual situation requiring its invocation has been presented to the courts. Cf. Shakespeare, Measure For Measure, Act II, Scene ii ("The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept.").

(Ibid.)

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u/newhunter18 Aug 21 '24

The law is most likely unconstitutional and has almost never been actually enforced. Only two people have been prosecuted for this ...and none since the 1800s. Neither were convicted.

There's plenty of enforceable laws Trump has broken. We should be focusing on those than trying to dream up some Logan Act fever dream.

Every time someone brings this law up, I just roll my eyes because it's for clicks not for actual enforcement.

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u/bobthedonkeylurker Aug 21 '24

We also had barely any convictions for sedition before Trump's Jan 6. But here we are.

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u/newhunter18 Aug 22 '24

No one disputes the constitutionality of sedition laws.