Montana Constitution: Treason and War

A caller exasperated upon me one morning, paraphrasing, "I don't want to be on the air.  But I haven't heard the word 'Treason' being mentioned lately.  Why are we not charging them with Treason?"

"Because we're not at war!" I responded curtly.  Then thanked her for calling and hung up to get to others.

I wrote about Treason on a national level already, so what does the Montana Constitution say about it.  Here it is.  The whole first half of this is nearly word-for-word identical to Article III, Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution.

Article II, Section 30: Treason and descent of estates. Treason against the state shall consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort; no person shall be convicted of treason except on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on his confession in open court; no person shall be attainted of treason or felony by the legislature; no conviction shall cause the loss of property to the relatives or heirs of the convicted. The estates of suicides shall descend or vest as in cases of natural death.

The word that leapt out to me is "enemies."  What constitutes an Enemy?  Mirriam Webster gave the definitions "one that is antagonistic to another" and "a military adversary" and "a hostile unit or force."

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Can the State of Montana declare War against a criminal group or cartel?

I asked this to David Knobel, local attorney and guest host on Montana Talks.  His short answer: No.  Declaring War is a national foreign policy action.

So what does Montana have to fight these "Enemies?"  Short answer: our Criminal Justice system.

Can we as Montanans help?  Absolutely.  Support the local law enforcement.  See something, say something.  If you have it, assist law enforcement with information in an investigation.  Add your voice to the chorus that says illegal activity will not be tolerated.

Of course, everybody is innocent until proven guilty.  Profiling is not evidence.  Only details of actual criminal action counts.

I will cover the second half of this section in another article for it does deserve some consideration.

You can follow David Knobel on his Twitch channel at LCTRfan.  Just click on this link to see him in action.