MESSAGE
| DATE | 2017-01-26 |
| FROM | Rick Moen
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [Hangout-NYLXS] Ruben's "really" important news headlines II
|
Herewith, more interesting-at-least-to-me stuff about the crime of
'treason' in the USA. I wrote:
[Snip definition in Article III, clause 3 of the Constitution]
> Examples of proven treason include Tokyo Rose for her WWII broadcasts to
> American troops in the Pacific War. Also, Tomoya Kawakita, a dual
> Japanese and American citizen who mistreated American POWs while working
> for Imperial Japan as an interpreter. Both of those satisfied the
> _adhering_ part, most crucially. Just going abroad and talking to a
> dictator notably does not.
The Founders, mindful of abuse of the treason statute for political
purposes in British law, carefully restricted what Congress was
permitted to legislate to define, adjudicate, and punish treason in the
USA. Because of this, the bar of proof is pretty high, and, e.g.,
Aaron Burr was acquitted of treason in his scheme to steal Lousiana
Purchase land, because there was only physical evidence in the form of a
letter allegedly from him, and there were _not_ the two required
witnesses. ('No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the
Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in
open Court.')
Because of the Founders' strict restriction of treason's definition and
the high bar of requiring two witnesses to testify to the same
treasonous act, Congress has occasionally created _other_, similar
crimes -- most notably espionage as defined by Woodrow Wilson's
Espionage Act of 1917, as amended and modified by the courts.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, for example, were _not_ put on trial for
treason in the H-bomb spy case, but rather espionage. Because treason
would have been essentially impossible to prove.
In general, when you hear an American say 'X should be executed for
treason', that's extremely strong evidence that the American in question
knows absolutely fsck-all about treason -- not even knowing why it's
unheard of except inside the context of wars the United States has been
a combatant in, or domestic rebellion (such as the Dorr Rebellion in the
1840s in Rhode Island, and John Brown's rebellion in Harper's Ferry,
Virginia), which is the same reason why no prosecutor has even dreamed
of bringing such charges since Axis Sally, Tokyo Rose, and Tomoya
Kawakita for their actions as traitors working for Nazi German and
Imperial Japan during WWII. Which is because it's extremely difficult
to prove, and usually some other severe charge (like espionage) is a lot
easier.
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