Quote:
Originally posted by tw
There is no doubt that we are in hostilities. But I don't see where that meets the legal definition of 'a declared war'.
50 USC 33, § 1541 only says arm forces may be sent into combat without a declaration of war. It does not say that, by sending troops, we have automatically declared war.
The Prize Cases, 67 U.S. 635 only says that international, neutral merchants may have their cargos embargoed, as if a condition of war exists, even though war has not been formally declared. That does not mean that war was declared; just that international shipping may be blockaded if the US conducts military operations as defined by "2) specific statutory authorization, or 3) a national emergency...".
Of course this could be enough to have the Supreme Court hear the case. But as I read these two cited precedents, I don't see anything that says the US has declared war without Congressional approval. We have not formally declared war - which is significant to the rest of this post.
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That's the whole point... a state of war can exist whether Congress declares it or not. Why? Because the Supreme Court says so. The Prize Cases
is a Supreme Court decision. TW, you got bogged down reading the details of the decision and missed one of the main points. One more time:
Quote:
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"A state of actual war may exist without any formal declaration of it by either party, and this is true of both a civil and a foreign war." --Mr. Justice Grier, writing for the majority
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We
are at war...
de facto and
de jure.
Quote:
Originally posted by Griff
Unfortunately, its possible that in creating this court for bin Laden, the Bush administration has created something broad enough to try US citizens in. Has anyone got a link to the actual Executive Order?
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I haven't been able to find it, Griff. That was one of my motivations for starting this thread- sort of a Cellar-wide APB. I've been trying to find it all week, and still haven't managed to come up with it. It's been frustrating... as far as I can tell, there's no equivalent to the
Thomas Register for executive orders. Pity. Anybody else had any luck?