May 31

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Liberty and War and the Supreme Court

By pgarner

May 31, 2021


While the US does not currently have an active conscription policy, it remains a legal option according to the US Supreme court.

In the case Arver v United States (1918), the unanimous decision by the Supreme Court was that the draft (conscription) for military duty by the federal government was constitutional. The justices saw in Article 1, section 8 of the US Constitution the power for Congress to compel military service. 

It is critical to liberty to observe here the absolute and obvious violation of the sovereignty of the individual over their own bodies.  This decision allows the government, at its sole discretion, not only to force individuals into labor but also to place them in situations of extreme harm even knowing in advance of the extreme probability of death. Ask yourself how many American young men had their bodies seized by the federal government by the draft and sent to a highly likely death based on the political failures and corruptions of a government of a so-called free society. Did they really have the best interests of all Americans at heart? 57 thousand killed and countless tens of thousands wounded, maimed, and returned with great difficulties adjusting to life at home.

This quote from the decision of the court reveals its disregard for liberty and its collaboration with the other branches of government. "Finally, as we are unable to conceive upon what theory the exaction by government from the citizen of the performance of his supreme and noble duty of contributing to the defense of the rights and honor of the nation, as the result of a war declared by the great representative body of the people, can be said to be the imposition of involuntary servitude in violation of the prohibitions of the Thirteenth Amendment, we are constrained to the conclusion that the contention to that effect is refuted by its mere statement."  – Chief Justice Edward D. White

Note here that the court takes the view that war is declared by the representatives of the people and cannot be questioned or resisted.  The court also rejected the idea the draft was equal to slavery and prohibited under the 13 Amendment.  Their rejection of this argument again defers to the other branches of the government as having the best intentions and interests of the greater body of people of the nation in mind when they choose to draft the young men and women and put them in harm’s way. As we have seen in the twentieth century the corruption of government officials has led the US into absurd and obscene wars leading to the senseless deaths of tens of thousands of American young people.  Is this really a power we the people want Congress to have?

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