[Avodah] Wartime orders

[Zev Sero]

Moshe Y. Gluck wrote:
> I believe one can receive the death penalty for treason, and I could see how
> disobeying orders can be mistaken, in some contexts, for that.) 

No, it can't.  Treason is only joining with the enemy, and helping them
*because* they're the enemy.  When Hans Haupt was tried for treason,
the jury was instructed that it wasn't enough that he had sheltered a
German spy in his home, found him a job in a sensitive factory, helped
him buy a car, etc., and that he knew the man was a spy, and that these
actions would help the enemy.  If they found that he had done these
things only because the spy was his son, and did them despite the fact
that he was a spy, then they must acquit him of treason.  They could
only convict him if they found that he did these things *because* his
son was a spy for the enemy; that he himself identified with the enemy
and intended to help the enemy by helping his son perform his mission.
(The jury did indeed find these things, and the Supreme Court held that
they were allowed to infer his intent from his actions.)   An action
that helps the enemy, but that wasn't done for that purpose, cannot be
treason.



-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas