Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger;



> in the time of war

So are military courts going to close down since we’ve now ended the Afghanistan war? Or is that comma before “militia” going to mean that the time of war phrase is on for people who in a militia?


> or public danger;

Whether or not we're in a time of public danger is definitely up for debate, but you can't just leave off the second condition in an or statement and pretend it doesn't exist when trying to claim the statement is false.


Yea I’m on mobile so didn’t want to deal with full quote, it I assumed public danger meant like martial law. Do you know of any precedent on that part?


No clue, I assumed it was fairly general, but could be wrong. Googled it quickly just now and I didn't find an answer.

Incidentally I did find an answer to your previous question (about who the clause applies to), pasted it above.


> Or is that comma before “militia” going to mean that the time of war phrase is on for people who in a militia?

Findlaw (usually reasonably accurate) claims that is the case

> The protection of indictment by grand jury extends to all persons except those serving in the armed forces. All persons in the regular armed forces are subject to court martial rather than grand jury indictment or trial by jury.33 The exception’s limiting words when in actual service in time of war or public danger apply only to members of the militia, not to members of the regular armed forces.

https://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment5/annotation01.htm...


Pretty sure it just means you can’t summarily execute a subordinate during peacetime.

During wartime disobeying a direct order is a serious offense (probably one of the most ‘infamous’ of offenses) but during peacetime you get to have a trial and more than likely not be shot.


The United States is always at war, if not elsewhere, then with itself and its own principles.




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: