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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Massachusetts Antiwar Bill, Anthony D'Amato
The Massachusetts Antiwar Bill, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
The Massachusetts Antiwar bill provides that no inhabitant of Massachusetts inducted into or serving in the armed forces "shall be required to serve" abroad in an armed hostility that has not been declared a war by Congress under Art. I, Sect. 8 of the United States Constitution. One could hardly imagine a more fundamental constitutional doubt arising in the mind of the American public than that of the legality of a major war. The purpose of the Massachusetts bill is purely and simply to obtain an authoritative judicial test of the constitutionality of an undeclared war.
Massachusetts In The Federal Courts: The Constitutionality Of The Vietnam War, Anthony D'Amato
Massachusetts In The Federal Courts: The Constitutionality Of The Vietnam War, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
One of the most singular pieces of legislation in American constitutional history passed the Massachusetts legislature in 1970, and was signed into law. It provided that, except for an emergency, no inhabitant of Massachusetts inducted into or serving in the armed forces "shall be required to serve" abroad in an armed hostility that has not been declared a war by Congress under Article I, Section 8, clause 11 of the US Constitution. A conflict between state law and national policy was created.