1、 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i The Logan Act: An Overview of a Sometimes Forgotten 18th Century Law January 12, 2018 The Logan Act, which has been the subject of much recent debate, generally makes it illegal for U.S. citizens to enga
2、ge in unauthorized diplomacy with foreign countries with intent to “influence the measures or conduct” of a foreign government or to “defeat the measures of the United States . . . .” Prosecutors have only brought two Logan Act indictments since its enactment, neither of which led to conviction. As
3、stated by one commentator, the Act has been called a “dead letter,” an “anachronism,” a “curious federalist antique,” “the most moribund of federal statutes,” and an “eighteenth century relic that slumbers in splendid disregard.” Others have noted that the statute is not completely moribundthe State
4、 Department has occasionally enforced the Logan Acts prohibitions by way of passport suspensions and travel restrictions, and there has been a successful court martial of a U.S. serviceman for conduct of the kind barred by the statute. But regardless of the debate over the Logan Acts precise history
