This past October, President Bush signed a bill which included a little noticed provision making it easier for the executive branch to declare martial law and assert more control over the National Guard… even against the wishes of a state’s governor.  According to Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, this new legislation had been slipped in as a rider to the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act with no study and no chance for appropriate legislative committees to discuss or hold hearings on this far reaching legislation.  In Leahy’s view, this act “subverts solid, long-standing Posse Comitatus statues that limit the military’s involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the president to declare martial law.”

This new law allows the president to “employ the armed forces, including the National Guard in federal service, to restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as a result of natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any state or possession of the Unites States, that the president determines that domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the state or possession are incapable of maintaining public order to suppress in any state, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination or conspiracy.”

One especially frightening line in this flawed legislation is “or other condition, ” meaning that any president now… or at any time in the future… could potentially take military control of any city or state at any time for any reason.  At this time of transition in the US, Americans do not need to make it easier for anyone to declare martial law.  As Senator Leahy was quoted, “Invoking the Insurrection Act and using the military for law enforcement activities goes against some of the central tenets of our democracy.”  Every concerned citizen should be asking:  Why this new grab for power?  And… why now?