What is the Logan Act and what does it have to do with Elon Musk?
Did Elon Musk violate the Logan Act last year with his attempt to broker a peace deal between Russia and the Ukraine? What does the Logan Act say?
The Logan Act is nearly as old as the United States itself passed by Congress in 1799. Basically in a nutshell, the federal law says that US citizens cannot conduct foreign diplomacy without government consent.
Over the years, many people have been accused of violating the law, like Elon Musk for his ham-handed meddling in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. While the Logan Act has been on the books for over 200 years, only two people have ever been indicted with violating it and neither of them were convicted.
What is the Logan Act and what does it have to do with Elon Musk?
Last year, the tech billionaire put forth for a vote a proposal to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the social media platform then known as Twitter. His proposals were slammed by many, not least of which the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as it was basically a wish list of what Russian President Vladimir Putin would want. The Kremlin praised Musk for the proposal.
That bit of attention seeking isn’t what would fall foul of the Logan Act though, but instead his allegedly speaking to Vladimir Putin prior to floating his ideas for a peaceful resolution to Russia’s aggression against its neighbor. Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, said that Musk told the political consultant that he had discussed terms of negotiation with Putin. Both the tech billionaire and the Kremlin deny any such discussion took place.
Were it true though, and Musk didn’t have any formal approval from the US government to conduct said communication, that would be a violation of the Logan Act. The law states those who violate it “shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”
Could Elon Musk go to jail?
However, even if Musk were guilty, he can sleep easy. It is extremely unlikely that the government would even attempt to apply the law to him in this case, or to anybody for that matter. As mentioned before, only two people have been indicted with violating the Logan Act. The last time the law was applied was in 1852, and like the case before that, the prosecution was dropped before it ever went to trial.
There are even questions about the constitutionality of the law, as The Federalist Society says it could be argued that the Logan Act violates one’s free speech rights protected by the First Amendment. There are also doubts about whether the law is even operative given its lack of use despite technical violations of the law over the years.