Usurpation of Power: The 2007 Defense Authorization Act and the "Reform" of the Insurrection Act of 1807
by Col. Daniel Smith | Nov 20 2006
Messages are circulating on the Internet that raise an alarm over a provision of the FY2007 Defense Department Authorization Act (PL 109-364) that expands presidential discretion to declare martial law and to federalize the National Guard in case of insurrection.
The first to raise the subject was Senator Patrick Leahy (VT). On September 19th, 2006, and again on September 29th, 2006, he decried this expansion of presidential power previously restricted by the Insurrection Act of 1807 (10 U.S.C. 331) (as updated) and a similar weakening of the limits on presidential power in the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 (18 U.S.C. 1385).
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