The Logan Act, signed into law by President John Adams, (1 Stat. 613, 18 U.S.C. § 953, enacted January 30, 1799) is a United States federal law that forbids unauthorized citizens from interfering in disputes or controversies between the United States and foreign governments. It was intended to prohibit the interference of unauthorized United States citizens in relations between the United States and foreign governments. The Logan Act was last amended in 1994, and its violation is a felony. Despite attempts to repeal the Act, it has remained law and is considered a means to punish anyone who without authority interferes with the foreign relations of the United States. But a recent letter by 47 US senators to Iranian leaders proved that being educated as a lawyer doesn’t mean you stay on top of the knowledge required to be respected as a lawyer.
A few days after Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial address to Congress by John Boehner’s invitation, a blatant stunt by 47 Senate Republicans found its way into headlines. In an attempt to undermine the 5+1 negotiations with Iran a letter was organized by freshman Senator Tom Cotton and signed by 46 Republican senators—all negligence of US Constitution. The GOP Senators even bore the burden of having their letter translated into Farsi for Iranian leaders some of whom have an excellent command of English—not to ignore their knowledge of international law and US Constitution.
Among Iranian leaders, the intelligent, well-read Dr. Zarif, who has attended prep school in San Francisco, San Francisco State University, Columbia University, and the University of Denver's School of International Studies, went to extra trouble of lecturing these dopey senators about their own country's constitution as well as international law.
In the first place, Zarif reminded the senators of ABCs of US Constitution and the presidential powers in the conduct of foreign policy. He had to teach the Republicans who have recently taken the fall for their hatred of Obama not to forget that it is inappropriate for members of US Congress to write to leaders of another country against their own president and administration. Since the current GOP has shown the world that the United States is a divided, vulnerable country that doesn’t have Obama’s back, Zarif had to refresh their memory that an appearance of disunity would obviously weaken a negotiators stance.
Next Zarif jogged the senators’ memory and reminded them of the fact that the world is way bigger than the United Sates and as a matter of fact it cannot be considered the United Sates’ colony or be governed by US domestic law. And that the 5+1 not only means the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China, but they also include all permanent members of the Security Council. Therefore, any Comprehensive Plan of Action will not be regarded as a bilateral agreement between Iran and the US. As a result, any change in the United States administration will not change the result of the negotiations. So, the GOP must learn not to allow fanaticism to overpower reasoning when they can’t think straight.
To enlighten the senators and to enrich their knowledge, Zarif put his education to use in teaching the authors of the letter that according to international law the Congress would not be able to revise the terms of the agreement. Therefore, adopting any measure to hinder the implementation of the agreement is nothing but an infringement of the rights of Islamic Republic of Iran that has entered these negotiations in good faith.
The Republican warmongers must keep in mind that playing cowboy with international relations does not sound cool by any means. Instead the putative governing body of the United States could use a little education. These unruly students really need to read the constitution and take into consideration the lessons they’ve been taught by Professor Zarif or he will fail them with the stroke of a pen.
What the ignorant US senators need to learn afterwards is that the American Supreme Court has codified into law the idea that only the president is allowed to make foreign policy, not Congress. Otherwise, the United States as a country with two branches of government would effectively have two foreign policies; a phenomenon that this country has witnessed for the first time over the previous days.
Those who have signed the letter must keep in mind that as US senators they do not have the authority to conduct foreign policy since it’s a responsibility of executive branch according to the constitution. Moreover, the letter does not prepare the readers with either advice or consent but is aimed at thwarting the negotiations. Therefore, the signatories seem to have violated the federal law and should be sentenced to three years in jail based on the Logan Act or wait a minute! The members of 47 Band are all US senators who enjoy constitutional immunity. The story which leads us to the fact that there is no chance Cotton and crew would be impeached.
Once upon a time a group of American elected officials who were not only unfit to govern, but also unwilling to, brazenly tried to sabotage America's foreign policy and casted doubt on the loyalty of the Republicans. They were lectured on the world stage by a know-how foreign minister who put the United States of America in a new era of enlightenment. America today wonders whether the 47 senators are guilty of sedition by breaching the Logan Act and possibly a felony, but they never forget that the 47 warmongers are REPUBLICANS to whom the law will never apply.
Fatemeh Ravangard has gradutaed from Tehran University with MA in North American Studies.
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