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Did The Court Kill The Treason Charge?: Reassessing Cramer V. United States And Its Significance, Paul T. Crane

Law Faculty Publications

This Article has two main objectives. First, I will analyze the Court's decision in Cramer v. United States. Based on internal court documents, such as draft opinions and private memoranda, it is clear that the Justices had more on their minds than the specific legal question at hand. Second, I will reassess the relationship between Cramer and the lack of treason charges after 1954 and offer an explanation for the disappearance of treason prosecutions until the indictment of Gadahn in 2006. Specifically, I will highlight the significance of a traditionally underappreciated portion of the Cramer decision: the Court's statement that …