Logan Act

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The Logan Act is a law passed in 1799 and most recently in 1994 changed the law of the United States . It prohibits citizens from engaging in political negotiations with foreign governments and officials in relation to any conflict with the United States or countering their action without the express permission of the government. This is to prevent lobby groups from making international agreements outside the public eye. Contact with other states should instead take place through regular state visits , the agenda and actual content of which can be followed by the media and all state organs.

The law is named after George Logan (1753-1821), who led peace negotiations in Paris in 1798 to end the quasi-war . Violations of the law are punishable. A fine or a prison sentence of up to three years is possible.

application

There has never been a conviction for the Logan Act, even if there have been allegations of (alleged) violations. In 1803 a Kentucky farmer was charged with a newspaper article advocating secession of the western part of the (then) United States and recommending an alliance with France. The charges were dropped following the Louisiana Purchase , in which the US bought over 2 million km² of land from France.

In 1984, accusing President Ronald Reagan the civil rights activist Jesse Jackson to have violated the Logan Act. Jackson had made trips to Cuba and Nicaragua and had returned with several Cuban political prisoners seeking asylum in the United States. However, there was no charge.

On December 29, 2016, the later National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn to the then- elected US President Donald Trump, who was not in office at the time, had a telephone conversation with the Russian Ambassador to the US and campaigned for Russia to take countermeasures to the disregard sanctions imposed by the USA. Since Flynn had not yet assumed his office, he was charged with not being empowered to make such statements and he resigned.

Donald Trump was also repeatedly accused of violating the Logan Act. Again, the Washington Post sees its importance more generally in its suitability as a political attack tool.

text

1 stat. 613, January 30, 1799, codified at 18 USC § 953 (2004) (Private correspondence with foreign governments):

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.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Spiegel.de: Kushner is said to have asked Flynn to make contacts with Russia , December 1, 2017, accessed December 2, 2017
  2. ^ Domenico Montanaro: What Is The Logan Act, And Why Does It Matter? In: National Public Radio , February 14, 2017 (English).
  3. ↑ Amber Phillips: Democrats think Donald Trump just violated the Logan Act. What is that? In: The Washington Post , December 1, 2017, accessed December 2, 2017.