Mora Et Al. v. McNamara, Secretary of Defense, Et Al.

Background

Three men who had been drafted into the Army in late 1965 were ordered to a West Coast replacement station for shipment to Vietnam about six months later. They sued the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Army to stop those orders and asked a court to declare that current U.S. military activity in Vietnam was "illegal." The District Court dismissed the suit and the Court of Appeals affirmed, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Reasoning

Because the Court denied review, it did not decide the core constitutional questions raised by the soldiers. Two Justices who dissented said the case raised very large issues: whether the U.S. activity in Vietnam counts as a "war" under the Constitution, whether the President can order these men into action without a formal Congressional declaration, how treaties matter, and whether the 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution unlawfully handed war power to the President. The dissenters urged the Court to grant review and address those questions.

Real world impact

By refusing to hear the case, the Court left the soldiers without a Supreme Court ruling and left the bigger legal questions unresolved. The denial is not a decision on the merits and does not settle whether present U.S. operations in Vietnam are constitutionally lawful. Those constitutional and treaty issues could be raised again in other cases.

Dissents or concurrances

Justices Stewart and Douglas filed dissents arguing the Court should take the case and confront the constitutional, treaty, and statutory questions about war-making authority. Justice Marshall did not participate.