grassrootspeace.org

November 5, 2007: This website is an archive of the former website, traprockpeace.org, which was created 10 years ago by Charles Jenks. It became one of the most populace sites in the US, and an important resource on the antiwar movement, student activism, 'depleted' uranium and other topics. Jenks authored virtually all of its web pages and multimedia content (photographs, audio, video, and pdf files. As the author and registered owner of that site, his purpose here is to preserve an important slice of the history of the grassroots peace movement in the US over the past decade. He is maintaining this historical archive as a service to the greater peace movement, and to the many friends of Traprock Peace Center. Blogs have been consolidated and the calendar has been archived for security reasons; all other links remain the same, and virtually all blog content remains intact.

THIS SITE NO LONGER REFLECTS THE CURRENT AND ONGOING WORK OF TRAPROCK PEACE CENTER, which has reorganized its board and moved to Greenfield, Mass. To contact Traprock Peace Center, call 413-773-7427 or visit its site. Charles Jenks is posting new material to PeaceJournal.org, a multimedia blog and resource center.

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War on Truth  From Warriors to Resisters
Books of the Month

The War on Truth

From Warriors to Resisters

Army of None

Iraq: the Logic of Withdrawal

To see entire set of Plaintiff pleadings,
go to Doe v. Bush Main Page

BOSTON

Judge rejects lawsuit to block war against Iraq

By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff, 2/25/2003

Calling the potential war with Iraq a political rather than a legal issue, a federal judge in Boston refused yesterday to issue a temporary restraining order that would have prevented the Bush administration from attacking without a declaration of war from Congress.

A group of unnamed military personnel, along with relatives of people in the armed forces and six members of the US House of Representatives, had filed suit, claiming that Congress had abdicated its war powers to the executive branch when it passed a resolution backing military action in Iraq last October.

US District Judge Joseph L. Tauro agreed with Justice Department lawyers who argued that the judiciary has no power to intervene in matters of foreign policy except in cases where Congress and the president are strongly and clearly in conflict. The judge denied the plaintiff's request for a temporary restraining order and ordered their lawsuit dismissed.

''The issues raised in this case are political questions beyond the authority of this court to resolve,'' Tauro said at a hearing.

Tauro said he could not tackle the issue of the constitutionality of the October resolution because Congress had ''clearly . . . not acted to bind the president from engaging in a war on Iraq'' and was, therefore, not in direct conflict with the executive branch. 

John Bonifaz, a Boston lawyer who represented the plaintiffs, called Tauro's decision ''wrong'' and vowed an immediate appeal. Bonifaz said Congress created a dangerous situation by investing all the power to wage war with one man, President Bush.

Plaintiff Charles Richardson of Jamaica Plain, whose son, Joseph, is a US Marine assigned to the American forces massing in the Persian Gulf, said he was disappointed by Tauro's decision.

''It would have taken a strong judge to rule on the merits of this case,'' said the elder Richardson.

Justice Department lawyers read a statement from Attorney General John D. Ashcroft. ''As the court held, Congress and the president are speaking with one voice in deciding that force may be necessary to compel Iraq to end its . . . weapons programs, to end its support of international terrorism, and to comply with the UN's resolutions,'' the statement read.

© Copyright 2003 New York Times Company

Page created February 25, 2003 by Charlie Jenks.