McCarran Internal Security Act
Pub. L.81–831 | |
Statutes at Large | 64 Stat. 987 |
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Codification | |
Titles amended | 50 U.S.C.: War and National Defense |
U.S.C. sections created | 50 U.S.C. ch. 23, subch. I § 781 et seq. |
Legislative history | |
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United States Supreme Court cases | |
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The Internal Security Act of 1950, 64
Provisions
Its titles were I: Subversive Activities Control (Subversive Activities Control Act) and II: Emergency Detention (Emergency Detention Act of 1950).[3]
The Act required
United States Attorney General
The Act also contained an emergency detention statute, giving the President the authority to apprehend and detain "each person as to whom there is a reasonable ground to believe that such person probably will engage in, or probably will conspire with others to engage in, acts of espionage or sabotage."[9]
It tightened alien exclusion and deportation laws and allowed for the detention of dangerous, disloyal, or
The Act made picketing a Federal courthouse a felony[12] if intended to obstruct the court system or influence jurors or other trial participants.[13]
Legislative history
Passage
Several key sections of the Act were taken from the earlier Mundt–Ferguson Communist Registration Bill, which Congress had failed to pass.[14]
It included language that Sen.
President Harry Truman vetoed it on September 22, 1950, and sent Congress a lengthy veto message in which he criticized specific provisions as "the greatest danger to freedom of speech, press, and assembly since the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798," a "mockery of the Bill of Rights" and a "long step toward totalitarianism".[16][17]
The House overrode the veto without debate by a vote of 286–48 the same day. The Senate overrode his veto the next day after "a twenty-two hour continuous battle" by a vote of 57–10. Thirty-one Republicans and 26 Democrats voted in favor, while five members of each party opposed it. Democratic Senator Hubert Humphrey led the outnumbered opposition in the Senate despite having voted in favor of the law the first time.[18]
Amended
Part of the Act was repealed by the Non-Detention Act of 1971 after facing public opposition, notably from Japanese Americans. President Richard Nixon, while signing the repeal bill, referred to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II for historical context as to why the bill needed to be repealed.[19]
For example, violation of 50 U.S.C. § 797 (Section 21 of "the Internal Security Act of 1950"), which concerns security of military bases and other sensitive installations, may be punishable by a prison term of up to one year.[20]
The part of the act codified as 50 U.S.C. § 798 has been repealed in its entirety for violating the First Amendment.[21]
Abolition
The Subversive Activities Control Board was abolished by Congress in 1972.[22]
Constitutionality
The Supreme Court of the United States was initially deferential towards the Internal Security Act. For example, in Galvan v. Press,[23] the Court upheld the deportation of a Mexican alien on the basis that he had briefly been a member of the Communist Party from 1944 to 1946, even though such membership had been lawful at that time (and had been declared retroactively illegal by the Act).
As McCarthyism faded into history, the Court adopted a more skeptical approach towards the Act. The 1964 decision in Aptheker v. Secretary of State ruled unconstitutional Section 6, which prevented any member of a communist party from using or obtaining a passport. In 1965, the Court voted 8–0 in Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board to invalidate the Act's requirement that members of the Communist Party were to register with the government. It held that the information which party members were required to submit could form the basis of their prosecution for being party members, which was then a crime, and therefore deprived them of their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.[24] In 1967, the act's provision prohibiting communists from working for the federal government or at defense facility was also struck down by the Supreme Court as a violation of the First Amendment's right to freedom of association in United States v. Robel.[25]
Use by U.S. military
The U.S. military continues to use 50 U.S.C. § 797, citing it in U.S. Army regulation AR 190–11 in support of allowing installation commanders to regulate privately owned weapons on army installations. An Army message known as an ALARACT[26] states "senior commanders have specific authority to regulate privately owned weapons, explosives, and ammunition on army installations." The ALARACT refers to AR 190-11 and public law (section 1062 of Public Law 111–383, also known as the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011); AR 190–11 in turn cites the McCarran Internal Security Act (codified as 50 USC 797). The ALARACT reference is a truncated version of the public law.[27]
Fictional reimagining
The 1971 pseudo-documentary film Punishment Park speculated what might have happened if Richard Nixon had enforced the McCarran Act against members of the anti-war movement, black power movement, the feminist movement, and others.
See also
- Alien Registration Act
- Espionage Act of 1917
- Hatch Act of 1939
- Mundt–Nixon Bill of 1948
- Mundt–Ferguson Communist Registration Bill of 1950
- National Committee to Defeat the Mundt Bill (1948–1950)
- McCarran–Walter Act
- McCarthyism
References
- ^ Internal Security Act
- .
- ^ The Full Text of the McCarran Internal Security Act Archived 2022-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 25, 2012
- ProQuest 111584130.
- ^ Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board
- ^ Title I, Section 5-7
- ^ Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders
- ^ Scales v. United States
- ^ Title II, Section 103
- ProQuest 111830215.
- ProQuest 111905452.
- ^ New York Times: "M'Grath to Press New Curbs on Reds," September 25, 1950, accessed June 25, 2012
- ^ Title I, Section 31
- ^ Everything2: The Nixon-Mundt Bill Retrieved 2012-04-10
- ^ Justia: Scarbeck v. U.S. paragraphs 20-1, accessed June 25, 2012
- ^ Harry S. Truman, Veto of the Internal Security Bill Archived 2007-03-01 at the Wayback Machine, Harry S. Truman Library and Museum.
- ^ "Text of President's Veto Message Vetoing the Communist-Control Bill" (PDF). New York Times. September 23, 1950. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
- ^ Trussel, C.P. (September 24, 1950). "Red Bill Veto Beaten, 57-10, By Senators" (PDF). New York Times. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
- .
- ^ United States Department of Defense DoD Directive 5200.8, "Security of DoD Installations and Resources", 25 April 1991, retrieved August 26, 2005.
- ^ "50 USC 798". Findlaw.
- OCLC 698017558.[page needed]
- ^ Galvan v. Press, 347 U.S. 522 (1954),
- ISBN 9781576072011.
- ISBN 9781570035630.
- ^ ALARACT 333/2011 DTG R 311939Z AUG 11
- ^ Public Law. "111-383" (PDF). section 1062. 111th Congress.
Further reading
- Izumi, Masumi. "Prohibiting 'American Concentration Camps'," Pacific Historical Review 74.2 (2005): 165-194 online[dead link].
- Keohane, Jennifer. "How Would They Ever Learn Better--The Sedition Act, the McCarran Internal Security Act, and Congressional Failure." Northwestern Interdisciplinary Law Review 1 (2008): 217+ online.
- Lee, R. Alton. "'New Dealers, Fair Dealers, Misdealers, and Hiss Dealers': Karl Mundt and the Internal Security Act of 1950." South Dakota History 10 (1980): 277-90 online Archived 2021-02-27 at the Wayback Machine.
- McCarran, Patrick A. "The Internal Security Act of 1950." University of Pittsburgh Law Review 12 (1950): 481+. online
- Ybarra, Michael J. Washington Gone Crazy: Senator Pat McCarran and the Great American Communist Hunt (Steerforth Publishing, 2004) online pp 509–534.
External links
- Internal Security Act of 1950 as amended (PDF/details) in the GPO Statute Compilations collection
- Department of Defense Instruction, December 2005 (from Defense Technical Information Center)