| Abstract: | The National Guard is a largely successful intergovernmentalinstitution in the United States. In September 1989, however,the governor of Minnesota asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strikedown federal legislation that gives the Department of Defenseauthority to assign state National Guard units to active-dutyoverseas training without the consent of the governor. In Perpich(1990), the Supreme Court upheld the Montgomery Amendment allowingthe president to order members of a state's Guard to activeduty for training outside the United States even during peacetimewithout either the consent of the governor or the declarationof a national emergency. The Court did not address the factthat the president has ample authority under other statutesfor calling up the National Guard. The decision dealt only withthe authority for calling Guard units for two weeks of active-dutytraining. The practical effect of this interpretation of themilitia clauses of the U.S. Constitution is to reduce the states'authority for training to, at best, a ministerial function,even when Guard units are called up by the secretary of defenseonly for the purpose of training. |
