“Is there any law against a group of Senators writing a letter to the Iranian government?”
Is there a law against anyone writing a letter to the Iranian government?
I’d be curious just how constitutional this Act is anyhow. A First Amendment challenge could send it the way of the Alien and Sedition Act.
Someone just sent me this link:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/953
THE 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.
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The next obvious question is this — what does “without authority of the United States” mean?
Are we to understand it to mean ONLY the executive branch is given the authority to correspond with foreign governments?
Is that what the framers of the constitution intended? a MUTE Senate when it comes to foreign correspondence?