On Feb 5, 2009, at 12:58 PM, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> Moreover, US citizenship under the Fifth Amendment cannot be revoked
> without due process; so the leaders and soldiers of the Confederacy,
> by making war (Fort Sumter) against the US, were openly committing
> treason and needed to be arrested and subjected to the punishment
> (capital) prescribed for treason.
>
> [WS:] By that logic, anyone attempting to secede from the union is
> guilty of treason and thus subject to arrest and punishment,
> including revocation of citizenship. Consequently, the very attempt
> to initiate the process of secession is an act of treason and thus
> illegal under US law. It thus follows that right to secession does
> not exist by implication, even if it is not specifically denied in
> the constitution, no?
No. Treason is defined as "making war" against the United States. Nonviolent secession would not be treasonous, and its advocacy is protected by the First Amendment.
Shane Mage
> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos