Quote:
Originally posted by tw
So when did Congress declare war? In each precedent, the US was at war. We have not declared war on anyone which is also why Silverstein can collect his $billion on WTC insurance.
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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" in which the President is "
bound to meet it in the shape it presented itself."
The Prize Cases, 67 U.S. 635 (1863)
and
The President may introduce the US armed forces into hostilities in the event of- 1) a declaration of war,
- 2) specific statutory authorization, or
- 3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces
--
50 USC 33, § 1541(c)
There's no question that we're at war.
My question was about the authority of a "special military commission" to try civilians. MaggieL's right... it's all been done before. German saboteurs who were captured in the US during WWII were handled this way. And Lincoln certainly played fast & loose with the Constitution during the War of Northern Aggression. There are plenty of precedents... but were they LEGAL? I still haven't found the answer.