Dissent Douglas Dissent Harlan | Dissent Stewart End date 1970 | |
Full case name Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Plaintiff v. Melvin R. Laird, Secretary of Defense Citations 400 U.S. 886 (more)
91 S. Ct. 128; 27 L. Ed. 2d 130; 1970 U.S. LEXIS 514 | ||
Massachusetts v. Laird, 400 U.S. 886 (1970), was a case dealing with the conscription aspect of the Vietnam War that the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear by a 6–3 vote.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts challenged the constitutionality of the war. It passed a law stating that no resident of Massachusetts "shall be required to serve" in the military abroad if the armed hostility has not been declared a war by Congress. The attorney general of Massachusetts asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case to test the legality of the Vietnam War.
The United States Supreme Court decline hearing the case due to a lack of jurisdiction.
References
Massachusetts v. Laird Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA