Hot Air discusses whether or not Grandma Pelosi violated the Logan Act by doing her shadow diplomacy number in Syria.
What is the Logan Act, you say?
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.
Allahpundit analyzes:
If they tried to prosecute her, the case would turn on the phrase “without authority of the United States.” She’s third in line to the presidency, her lawyer would argue; as an elected official and the de facto leader of the legislative branch, she’s got all the authority she needs. The counterargument would be that the “authority” in question means constitutional authority to conduct foreign policy as invested exclusively in the president under Article II. The counter-counterargument to that would be to claim that Article II doesn’t invest the president with any omnibus power over foreign policy, only certain defined powers.
But what would happen if Pelosi were prosecuted? Allahpundit points out that the last case dealing with this subject was Curtiss-Wright, which held that the president has expansive powers in this area. However, if such a case reached the Supreme Court, we would undoubtedly have a 4-4 split with Justice Kennedy to break the tie. Anybody have any doubts which side he would come down on?
I thought not.
So, any prosecution of Pelosi is out of the question. Which is too bad because we just need to have more opportunities to see Grandma as a victim of the patriarchy.
|