Question 1
Ex parte Miligan was a Supreme Court case in the United States that ruled that applying military tribunals to citizens was unconstitutional, when it is evident that civilian courts are still working. The case was about Lambdin Miligan and four others who were accused of stealing weapons and invading Union prisoner of war camps. The accused person was arrested and in 1864 and was charged with aiding a confederacy, inciting insurrection and conspiring to free Confederate prisoners. Miligan was arrested in his home in Indiana by the Union general the accused person was active at the time in the secret society and was friendly to the Confederate cause.
After his arrest, the accused person was taken to the military courts where he was tried by a military court, which was established under the authority of Abraham Lin coon who was the president during this time. Miligan was found guilty of the crimes he had committed and sentenced to hang. Miligan lawyers sought after a writ of habeas corpus that was intended to contest the constitutionality of the trial by military courts to a civilian (Jr, 102). The case was taken to the supreme court for an appeal. Miligan stated that the military courts did not have jurisdiction to prosecute the case because he was a civilian and the military courts were intended for people in the army.
The Supreme Court decision was unanimous on the issue, and they held that the president had no power to authorize the military court to prosecute civilians in a military court, where the civil courts were still operational. The court also held that the congress did not have the authority to authorize the same. The dealings of the head of state were unconstitutional, and by taking Miligan to the military court was depriving him his constitutional rights that were given by the constitution upon a fair trial. Milligan was jailed for eighteen months and was later released after serving his time. After his release, he was never convicted in any civilian court for the crimes he was accused of committing (McGinty, 45). However, radical republicans criticized the court's decision About the Miligan case and feared that the decision would affect negatively on the plans they had for the military rule in the south during reconstruction.
The decision by the Supreme Court on the Ex Parte Miligan case had an immense impact on the Citizens. First, it was established that a civilian could not be charged in a military court when a civil court is still operational. Further, every person has a right to a fair trail and a jury. The constitution provides that every citizen has a right to be taken in a civilian court, no matter what crime they have committed as long as they are civilians. By denying a person the due process of law, is denying them their human rights. Additionally, the court affirmed that the government had the power to suspend the writ of habeas corpus when there was an invasion or rebellion. However, this power does not give the government the right to deny a person the right to trial by jury under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution. The decision by the court also defined condition for martial law, where they stated that martial law cannot arise from threatened invasion, which means that that necessity must be present and actual, and the invasion must be real.
Question 2
The executive branch of the government is headed by the president of the United States. The president acts as Commander in chief of the armed forces. He is also the head of state who is responsible for enforcing and implementing laws that have been made by the congress and after appoints federal agencies. The executive branch has various departments that have been delegated to work so that they can assist the president in running the country as he, or she cannot be able to do all the work on their own.
The Departments that deals with or are responsible for nation’s nuclear weapons include the department of defense, department of Energy and department of homeland security. The departments have different roles and responsibilities that have been given to them because they function separately. The department of defense duty is to protect and provide military forces in the country in order to deter war in the country. The role of the department is to make available humanitarian aid, war fighting, providing relief for disaster stricken people, and performing peacekeeping missions. Despite these actions, they have to be alert on any nuclear weapons that are being made and find a way to disembark them if they are directed in the soil of the United States.
The department of energy is also another department that has been given the mandate to ensure that the nation is free from any nuclear weapons. The undertaking of the department is to ensure that they advance the national energy and economic security (Murdock, 89). This is done by providing funds to encourage scientific research on discovering new ways to provide energy to the people of America and improve their quality of life. However, the department has been tasked to provide nuclear security in the country. Additionally, the department has the task of protecting the environment from any harmful emissions that may result from nuclear weapons production.
The department of energy is a major department that deals nuclear weapons. It is responsible for designing, producing and testing all nuclear weapons. After the cold war, the United States stopped or discontinued producing new nuclear weapons. Additionally, the government closed voluntarily and ended the underground testing that was taking place on the nuclear weapons. The NSSA oversees that there is no making of nuclear weapons. They maintain and oversee a wide range of science experiments, high tech simulations that include extensive laboratory, subsystems and flight tests of warhead components as well as keeping the existing warheads secure, safe and reliable. The secretary of the department of defense confirms that the weapons are in the right condition without having experiments done on the existing nuclear weapons.
The department of homeland security is an additional department that deals with nuclear weapons in the country. In an Executive order, directive 7 by the president of the United States, it affirms that the homeland security shall safeguard the security of the people of America and ensure that their borders are safe from any insecurity (Department of Homeland security). The department shall ensure that the security measure is enforced, and the right military forces will be deployed in case of an alarm on the attack of nuclear weapons in the country. Nuclear weapons shall only be launched if it has been established that it is in the interest of the American people.
Work cited
Jr, Mark E. N. The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Internet resource.
McGinty, Brian. Lincoln and the Court. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2008. Internet resource.
Murdock, Clark A. The Department of Defense and the Nuclear Mission in the 21st Century: A Beyond Goldwater-Nichols Phase 4 Report. Washington, DC: CSIS Press, 2008. Print.
