User:Jon Roland/Militia clause-071109

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The term Militia Clauses refers generally to clauses of the U.S. Constitution that contain the term "militia", and in popular usage especially to the provisions in Article I, Section 8, Clauses 15 and 16,[1] that provide Congress with the power to provide for call-up, organizing, arming, and disciplining, units of the militia system.[2][3] Some also include the provision in U.S. Const. Art. II, S 2, cl. 1, that authorizes the President to command the militia, and the first clause of the Second Amendment.[4]

Contents

[edit] Text

Article I, Section 8, Clause 15:

“ The Congress shall have power . . . To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions; ”

Article I, Section 8, Clause 16:

“ To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; ”

Article II, Section 2, Clause 1:

“ The President shall be Commander in Chief of the ... Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States. ”

Second Amendment

“ A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. ”

[edit] History

The Militia Clauses arose from posse comitatus, and embody the Anglo-American idea that the citizenry is the best protector of the peace and enforcer of the law. In the Militia clauses, the Framers constitutionalized the powers of posse comitatus enabling call-ups by the states or the federal government.[5]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Popular Names of Constitutional Provisions, Updated Oct. 29, 2007.
  2. ^ Patrick Todd Mullins, The Militia Clauses, the National Guard, and Federalism: A Constitutional Tug of War, George Washington Law Review, Note, 57 (1988): 328. Onlne copy
  3. ^ Brian C. Brook, Federalizing the First Responders to Acts of Terrorism via the Militia Clauses, 54 Duke L. J. 999 (2005) Online copy
  4. ^ Robert A. Levy, Ph.D., J.D, Testimony before the Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, June 28, 2005, Oversight Hearing on the District of Columbia's Gun Control Laws. Example of use of phrase "militia clause" to refer to first clause of Second Amendment, and inclusion of the Article II power. Online copy
  5. ^ Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.) (2005). The Heritage Guide to the Constitution. Edwin Meese, III: Regnery Publishing, 139. ISBN 1-5969-8001-X. 


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