Constitutional Opinion No. 2026-0768
Case Information
- Content Scored
- Brown v. United States, 12 U.S. 110 (1814)
- Source
- Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Reports Vol. 12 (8 Cranch)
- Author
- Chief Justice John Marshall (opinion of the Court); Story, J. dissenting
- Publication Date
- 1814-02-01
- Content Type
- Judicial Opinion / Legal-Normative Text
- Opinion Issued
- 2026-07-20
- AFCS Version
- 1.0
Holding
The confiscation-side companion to the war-powers cases scored highest, and it belongs beside them. The question: whether the mere declaration of war against Great Britain confiscated British-owned property found in the US when the war began (a timber cargo condemned by the circuit court as enemy property). Marshall held it did not: "war gives the right to confiscate, but does not itself confiscate the property of the enemy." A war declaration places the nations in hostility "but not... operating, by its own force, any of those results, such as a transfer of property, which are usually produced by ulterior measures of government." The power lies with Congress: "the power of confiscating enemy property is in the legislature," a matter "proper for the consideration of the legislature, not of the executive or judiciary," and the judiciary "can pursue only the law as it is written." Congress not having authorized it, the condemnation was reversed. Strong, clean alignment: separation of powers at the sharpest point of national power — confiscation reserved to the branch answerable to the people (Article XVII, 86); property acquired "under the faith of laws" secured against seizure absent a legislative act (Article IX, 80); the rule of law, a court refusing to condemn what the written law did not authorize (Article XVIII, 80); restraint-in-war moderation while preserving congressional discretion to confiscate and apply reciprocity (Article XVI, 74). Unlike the Schooner Exchange, no America First tension: the beneficiary is an enemy alien, but the holding hands the enemy nothing and the nation loses no power — it decides only WHO may confiscate, and answers, the people's legislature. Scored as Legal/Normative text (85/15). Tier 1 nets to 80; the result is 82 — America First, beside Bas v. Tingy. Principle scored, not result.
It is the judgment of this Court that Opinion No. 2026-0768 is hereby entered into the record, in accordance with the America First Constitutional Standard. The score stands. The reasoning is published. The record is public.