Legal Writing
How to define ‘rebellion’? ‘Black’s Law Dictionary’ enters fray in challenges to federal National Guard deployments
The definition of “rebellion” crafted by Black’s Law Dictionary editor Bryan A. Garner could play a role in challenges to the federalization and deployment of National Guard troops in several U.S. cities. (Image from Shutterstock)
The definition of “rebellion” crafted by Black’s Law Dictionary editor Bryan A. Garner could play a role in challenges to the federalization and deployment of National Guard troops in several U.S. cities.
At issue is a Section 12406 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code that allows the federal government to call National Guard troops into federal service in cases of “rebellion or danger of rebellion” against the authority of the U.S. government. Another provision of the law allows a president to call up troops when a president “is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
Courts have differed on the definition of “rebellion,” and “virtually all” the litigants in the National Guard cases have referenced the definition in Black’s Law Dictionary, edited by Garner since 1995, the Los Angeles Times reports. From 1999 to 2024, Garner, who also is a frequent contributor for the ABA Journal, produced six new editions.
“The dictionary is Garner’s magnum opus, as essential to attorneys as Gray’s Anatomy is to physicians,” the Los Angeles Times says.
The first definition for rebellions reads: “1. Open, organized and armed resistance to an established government or ruler; esp., an organized attempt to change the government or leader of a country, usu. through violence.” Citing that definition, states challenging the deployments argue that the word “rebellion” can’t possibly apply to unrest in their cities.
The Trump administration is relying on two other senses of the word, arguing that rebellion means resistance or opposition to authority, including disobeying a legal command or summons, the Los Angeles Times reports, relying on a summary of the administration’s definition by the California Department of Justice. California argues that the “resistance” definition is not what Congress intended.
One case is pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco. That appeals court has granted an en banc rehearing in a case challenging federal deployment of the National Guard in Portland, Oregon, Oregon Public Broadcasting previously reported.
In another case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Trump administration seeks an emergency order that will allow it to deploy the National Guard in Chicago, SCOTUSblog reports. The Supreme Court focused on the section of the law allowing the federalization of the National Guard when a president “is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States” and asked for briefing on the meaning of “regular forces.” The Supreme Court asked whether the phrase refers to civilian law enforcement or the U.S. military.
The Los Angeles Times attributes the influence of dictionary definitions partly to Garner’s book on textualism co-authored by former Justice Antonin Scalia. The idea gained such acceptance that “by 2018, the Supreme Court was citing dictionary definitions in half of its opinions,” according to Mark A. Lemley, a professor at Stanford Law School, who spoke with the Los Angeles Times.
Garner told the Los Angeles Times that he works on the dictionary “virtually every day,” rising early to begin his workday at 4 a.m. He has around 4,500 dictionaries and three libraries in his home. He also is the author of “numerous other works,” including a memoir about his friendship with Scalia, the article reports. And he also finds time to teach legal writing as he travels throughout the country.
Garner will be watching for a Supreme Court decision.
“I will be looking very closely at what the Supreme Court says,” Garner told the Los Angeles Times. “If it writes anything about the meaning of the word rebellion, that might well affect the next edition of Black’s Law Dictionary.”
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