50 U.S.C. § 205 — Suspension of commercial intercourse with State in insurrection

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in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

The President can declare a rebelling state to be 'in insurrection.' Once declared, trade between that state and the rest of the U.S. becomes illegal. Goods and vehicles crossing that line can be seized by the United States.

This law covers what happens when the President calls out the militia to enforce federal law, under the authority described in this chapter. If the people rebelling ("insurgents") don't disperse by the deadline the President sets, and they claim to be acting on behalf of a state (or states) — and the people running that state's government don't deny or reject that claim — and the state doesn't put down the insurrection itself, the President can act. The President can also act more broadly: any time the President finds that people in any state, or part of a state, are in insurrection against the United States, the President can declare — by proclamation — that the people there are "in a state of insurrection." Once that declaration happens, all commercial trade between that state or area and the rest of the country becomes illegal, for as long as the insurrection continues. This applies to both the people living there and their trade with citizens elsewhere in the U.S. Any goods, wares, or merchandise moving into or out of that state or area — whether by land or water — gets forfeited to the United States. This includes the vehicle or vessel used to move the goods, or to move people to or from that state or area.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

Whenever the President, in pursuance of the provisions of this chapter, has called forth the militia to suppress combinations against the laws of the United States, and to cause the laws to be duly executed, and the insurgents shall have failed to disperse by the time directed by the President, and when the insurgents claim to act under the authority of any State or States, and such claim is not disclaimed or repudiated by the persons exercising the functions of government in such State or States, or in the part or parts thereof in which such combination exists, and such insurrection is not suppressed by such State or States, or whenever the inhabitants of any State or part thereof are at any time found by the President to be in insurrection against the United States, the President may, by proclamation, declare that the inhabitants of such State, or of any section or part thereof where such insurrection exists, are in a state of insurrection against the United States; and thereupon all commercial intercourse by and between the same and the citizens thereof and the citizens of the rest of the United States shall cease and be unlawful so long as such condition of hostility shall continue; and all goods and chattels, wares and merchandise, coming from such State or section into the other parts of the United States, or proceeding from other parts of the United States to such State or section, by land or water, shall, together with the vessel or vehicle conveying the same, or conveying persons to or from such State or section, be forfeited to the United States.

Source credit: (R.S. § 5301.)

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