Time: Wed Apr 16 14:32:56 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id MAA22046; Wed, 16 Apr 1997 12:47:06 -0700 (MST) by usr06.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id MAA15509; Wed, 16 Apr 1997 12:46:53 -0700 (MST) Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 14:26:49 -0700 To: liberty-and-justice@pobox.com From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: Suspended Constitution? References: <9703168612.AA861211291@ccgate.atmel.com> At 01:29 PM 4/16/97 -0500, you wrote: >>Brother Bob, >> >>The Constitution is not suspended. It is not suspended. >>It is not suspended. >> >>For I = 0 to infinity Repeat Here it is in FORTRAN computer language: 10 GO TO 10 /* here we go loop-de-loop >> >>"the Constitution is not suspended" > >----- > >We need to have our many in-resident >Constitutional experts comment on this. > >As I understand it, the Constitution has >various provisions for suspension >-- time of war being one such instance. "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it." That's IT! There is no provision to suspend the Constitution during time of war. The War Power is defined as follows: "Congress shall have the Power ... To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; "To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; "To provide and maintain a Navy; "To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; "To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress; ...." There is no authority to suspend the Constitution, as you can see. Moreover ... Warring on the several States is treason, to wit: "Treason against the Unied States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." The penalties for treason include death. Last, but not least, get a good taste of the impact of the following, as cited and quoted in People v. Boxer: "A practice condemned by the Constitution cannot be saved by historical acceptance and present convenience." [U.S. v. Woodley, 726 F.2d 1328, 1338 (1983)] "It is obviously correct that no one acquires a vested or protected right in violation of the Constitution by long use, even when that span of time convers our entire national existence and indeed predates it." [Walz v. Tax Commission of New York City, 397 U.S. 664, 678 (1970)] And so, those who would elevate the "amendments" to the Trading with the Enemy Act to the level of supreme Law, are acting more like apologists for treason, in my opinion. Remember, any law which conflicts with the U.S. Constitution is null and void, ab initio. Unconstitutionality dates from enactment, not from the decision so branding it. A much bigger problem is that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, in Downes v. Bidwell, that the Constitution does not apply inside the federal zone, and the guarantees of the Constitution extend to the federal zone ONLY as Congress shall make those guarantees applicable there, by statutes. So, it is moot to discuss whether the Constitution has been suspended in the federal zone; Downes v. Bidwell decided that it does not even operate inside the federal zone. So, you could say it has been "suspended" there, but the Downes decision has been timely and properly challenged already, In Re Grand Jury Subpoena Served on New Life Health Center Company. That motion was never ruled on, and the respondents have reserved all of their rights, including the right to overturn Downes v. Bidwell, for all the reasons stated by Justice Harlan in his eloquent dissent in Downes. For a brief overview, read "The Lawless Rehnquist" in the Supreme Law Library at URL: http://www.supremelaw.com in which Harlan's eloquent words are commemorated. Harlan still gives me goose bumps, and I have read those words over 100 times now. /s/ Paul Mitchell p.s. One of the things you get if you enroll in the Supreme Law School is an electronic copy of the U.S. Constitution as provided by the White House in response to a FOIA request for same (warts and all!) This will enable you to browse it with your word processor, or other capable text editor. For example, find all occurrences of: "Citizen of the United States" [sic] You'll be delighted with the results. ======================================================================== Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S. : Counselor at Law, federal witness email: [address in tool bar] : Eudora Pro 3.0.1 on Intel 586 CPU web site: http://www.supremelaw.com : library & law school registration ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this ========================================================================
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