[ceejayoz]

The Constitution defines treason very narrowly - the only crime to be specifically defined in it:

> Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.

The last time we convicted someone for it was in 1949.

[abeppu]

... is helping them get $17M not "giving Aid and Comfort"?

[ceejayoz]

We are not presently at war with North Korea.

[eschaton]

Actually the Korean War hasn’t ended yet.

[ceejayoz]

The US never declared war on North Korea in the first place, and there are no active hostilities between the two.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason_laws_in_the_United_Sta...

> The terms used in the definition derive from English legal tradition, specifically the Treason Act 1351. Levying war means the assembly of armed people to overthrow the government or to resist its laws. Enemies are subjects of a foreign government that is in open hostility with the United States.

[paradox242]

The Korean War was famously the first of many "police actions" the U.S. would become involved in after WW2, saving Congress the trouble having to turn up to authorize an actual war declaration.

[cosmicgadget]

Nor Venezuela, and yet the Alien Enemies Act has been invoked.

You are right, of course, but it's not relevant to policy decisions.

[ceejayoz]

I'd note that a Trump appointed judge just made that point about the AEA.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/us/texas-judge-trump-alie...

> He also found that the “plain ordinary meaning” of the act’s language, like “invasion” and “predatory incursion,” referred to an attack by “military forces” and did not line up with Mr. Trump’s claims about the activities of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang, in a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act.