Congress, Experts Question Trump’s Nuke Authority

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

What: Public forum on constitutionality of presidential first use of nuclear weapons
Where: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (Science Center Hall C)
When: Saturday, November 4, 2017


Contact: Prof. Elaine Scarry, Harvard University --  m 617-519-9735, escarry@fas.harvard.edu
   or    Cole Harrison, Mass Peace Action -– m 617-466-9274, cole@masspeaceaction.org
   or    Prof. Jonathan King, MIT -– m 617 803 8683, jaking@mit.edu

Congress, Experts Question Trump’s Nuke Authority

Long-held Doctrine May Be Unconstitutional

As President Donald Trump travels to China and other Asian countries, where his first priority will be negotiations over handling of the confrontation with North Korea over threats of nuclear strikes, a crescendo of voices in the US is questioning the constitutional authority of the US president to conduct a nuclear first strike.

On Saturday, November 4, at Harvard University, Congressman Jim McGovern (co-sponsor of “H.R.669 - Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017”) will join former Secretary of Defense William Perry, former missile launch officer Bruce Blair, constitutional scholar Bruce Ackerman, and other experts for a public forum on “Presidential First Use of Nuclear Weapons: Is it Legal? Is it Constitutional? Is it Just?”

“This event is intended to bring together the range of voices that will be required to rein in the nuclear threat – members of Congress, defense experts, legal scholars, philosophers, activists … and the general public,” said Harvard professor Elaine Scarry, conference co-chair and author of Thermonuclear Monarchy: Choosing Between Democracy and Doom.

The conference takes place Saturday, November 4, 2017 (9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) at Harvard University, Science Center Hall C, Cambridge, MA, and is co-sponsored by Harvard’s Mahindra Humanities Center,  Harvard’s Office of the Dean of Arts and Humanities, and MassPeaceAction Education Fund.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Full conference program at:
http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu/content/presidential-first-use-nuclear-weapons-it-legal-it-constitutional-it-just
http://masspeaceaction.org/event/presidential-first-use/

H.R.669 - Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/669/

S.200 - Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/200