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Court Upholds U.S. Control of Guard Troops

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From Associated Press

The Supreme Court ruled today the federal government may order state National Guard troops to take part in peacetime training abroad without a governor’s consent.

In a case that revived a controversy from the 1988 presidential campaign, the justices unanimously upheld a 1986 federal law challenged by Gov. Rudy Perpich of Minnesota.

The law was challenged previously by Gov. Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts, the defeated 1988 Democratic presidential candidate who opposed sending National Guard troops to train in Central America.

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“The congressional power to call forth the militia may in appropriate cases supplement its broader power to raise armies and provide for the common defense and general welfare, but it does not limit those powers,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the court.

Dukakis in 1988 denounced the Reagan Administration for what he called a “failed and illegal” policy of supporting Nicaraguan Contra rebels. He said sending National Guard troops to the region was an attempt to intimidate Nicaragua.

The Justice Department had said Dukakis’ position was “a dagger aimed at the heart of national defense.”

By contrast, Perpich has not criticized Reagan or Bush Administration foreign policy. Instead, he said the issue is one of states’ rights, and argued that the Constitution gives states veto power over peacetime training missions for National Guard members.

Perpich did not object when 12 members of a Minnesota National Guard public relations unit happened to be training in Panama last December when U.S. forces invaded to capture Gen. Manuel Noriega. The Minnesota residents returned to the United States a day after the invasion began.

The court ruled today on a 1986 federal law known as the Montgomery Amendment that limits the power of governors to withhold consent to federal deployment of National Guard units.

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The amendment was enacted after several governors said they opposed the Reagan Administration’s Central American policy and did not want National Guard troops from their states assigned to training missions in that region.

The amendment prohibits any governor from withholding consent to a National Guard unit’s active duty outside the country because of an objection to the site, purpose or schedule of the duty.

Rep. G. V. (Sonny) Montgomery (D-Miss.), the amendment’s author, said 50 governors should not be allowed to veto National Guard missions because they do not like foreign policy.

“We conclude that the Montgomery Amendment is not inconsistent with the (Constitution’s) militia clauses,” Stevens said.

“This case does not raise any question concerning the wisdom of the gubernatorial veto established in 1952, or of its partial repeal in 1986,” he added. “We merely hold that since the former was not constitutionally compelled, the Montgomery Amendment is constitutionally valid.”

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