2021 What Happened

2021 What Happened

Storming of the Capitol

Insurrection

• A violent uprising against an authority or government.

• The Insurrection Act 1807

• An Act authorizing the employment of the land and naval forces of the United States, in cases of insurrections

  
  

  Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases of insurrection, or obstruction to the laws, either of the United States, or of any individual state or territory, where it is lawful for the President of the United States to call forth the militia for the purpose of suppressing such insurrection, or of causing the laws to be duly executed, it shall be lawful for him to employ, for the same purposes, such part of the land or naval force of the United States, as shall be judged necessary, having first observed all the pre-requisites of the law in that respect.

Sedition

• Overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order.

• The Sedition Act of 1798

• Seditious conspiracy If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

Advocating overthrow of Government

• Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or

  Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—

• Effective Date of 1956 Amendment

Free Speech

• 1st Amendment

• Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

•  The right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

25th Amendment

• 1967

• Used by Nixon and Ford

• 1985 by Reagan

• The vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could declare the president unable to “discharge the powers and duties of his office.” 

• If the president disputes that determination, two-thirds of both the House and the Senate must vote to put the vice president in charge.

• No clear POINT on inability to serve.

A Coup 

• "Coup d’etat," a French term that means the overthrow of the government.

• Coups can be violent but don’t need to be.

• Chile, Haiti, and Thailand.

• Usually backed by military

• Political Faction--> Led by Generals/Dictator

• Blow against the State