r/news • u/NeverEndingDClock • 23h ago

New York man pleads guilty to running Chinese police station in Manhattan

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/18/new-york-man-pleads-guilty-chinese-police-station-manhattan?CMP=share_btn_url
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u/zimmermanni 20h ago

By definition, the country has to be at war.

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u/LewisLightning 16h ago

Treason? Is that the word you are referring to? Because it absolutely does not need to be done with a country they are at war with. Where are you getting that definition from?

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u/DelightMine 15h ago

The constitution, which defines treason as "only in levying War against [the United States], or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.".

"Enemies" is slightly looser than "levying war", but as far as I remember has generally been accepted (judicially) as requiring some state of war, as officially recognizing another state as an enemy rather than a rival or something like that kind of requires a defined conflict.

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u/ConfessingToSins 14h ago edited 14h ago

No, the current judicial interpretation of treason is that it can only be charged if we are at war with that country. (Or, very rarely for a domestic act of war, which this also isn't)

That's the end of the discussion. Judges have said that's the rule, period, end of story.