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<DIV class=timestamp>February 19, 2007</DIV>
<DIV class=kicker><NYT_KICKER>Editorial</NYT_KICKER></DIV>
<H1><NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0">Making Martial Law Easier
</NYT_HEADLINE></H1><NYT_BYLINE type=" "
version="1.0"></NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT></NYT_TEXT>
<DIV id=articleBody>
<P>A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike to the
heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of night. So it was
with a provision quietly tucked into the enormous defense budget bill at the
Bush administration’s behest that makes it easier for a president to override
local control of law enforcement and declare martial law. </P>
<P>The provision, signed into law in October, weakens two obscure but important
bulwarks of liberty. One is the doctrine that bars military forces, including a
federalized National Guard, from engaging in law enforcement. Called posse
comitatus, it was enshrined in law after the Civil War to preserve the line
between civil government and the military. The other is the Insurrection Act of
1807, which provides the major exemptions to posse comitatus. It essentially
limits a president’s use of the military in law enforcement to putting down
lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion, where a state is violating federal law
or depriving people of constitutional rights.</P>
<P>The newly enacted provisions upset this careful balance. They shift the focus
from making sure that federal laws are enforced to restoring public order.
Beyond cases of actual insurrection, the president may now use military troops
as a domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease
outbreak, terrorist attack <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000>or to any “other
condition.”</FONT></STRONG> </P>
<P>Changes of this magnitude should be made only after a thorough public airing.
But these new presidential powers were slipped into the law without hearings or
public debate. The president made no mention of the changes when he signed the
measure, and neither the White House nor Congress consulted in advance with the
nation’s governors. </P>
<P>There is a bipartisan bill, introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy, Democrat of
Vermont, and Christopher Bond, Republican of Missouri, and backed unanimously by
the nation’s governors, that would repeal the stealthy revisions. Congress
should pass it. If changes of this kind are proposed in the future, they must
get a full and open debate.</P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>