While I dearly love Boing Boing, the website is often guilty of mistakenly claiming that things are true when they are not. Two weeks ago, the website lamented the destruction of habeas corpus in the Military Commissions Act of 2006. While the legislation is terrible for our society, one of things it does not do is destroy habeas corpus rights. When websites claim certain things that turn out to be false, it looks bad for our side; people on the right are able to point to an instance of exaggeration, lying, or overreaction and say, "See! They don't even know what they're talking about!"

Today's instance deals with a bill "quietly signed" by George Bush, "allowing him to declare martial law." The bill was not "quietly signed" out of conspiracy; the bill is actually an omnibus defense-spending bill called the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007. Most omnibus defense-spending bills contain earmarks, and this one is no different. Buried deep within the bill is a provision that, sure enough, allows the president to declare martial law.

But here's the problem: the president already had the authority to declare martial law. 10 U.S.C. 333 gives the president the authority to use the military to "take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy" as long as two conditions specified in §333(1) and 333(2) are met.

Boing Boing is wrong in that the bill does not give the president any new authority to declare martial law. What it does do is alter the conditions under which martial law may be declared. Prior to the signing of this bill, martial law could be declared if an

insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy [...] so hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or [such insurrection, domestic violence, etc.] opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.

§1076 of Title X of the bill allows the president to declare martial law in the additional instances of "a natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident."