Treason charges for Snowden would be rare, challenging

Edward Snowden

Several key U.S. senators are lobbying for treason charges against Edward Snowden, the former analyst who leaked information about government spy programs. So how rare and unusual would that be?

Given that there have been about 30 treason trials in the United States since 1789, bringing treason charges against Snowden would be problematic, but not unheard of.

The whole concept of treason is an important part of the Constitution. The Founding Fathers knew the British laws about treason all too well. The British laws were much broader than our current definitions, and treasonable offenses include having sexual relations with the king’s wife, counterfeiting, and the murder of a husband by a wife.

In fact, the men who signed the Declaration of Independence knew they risked treason charges if things didn’t work out well.

Article 3, Section 3 of the Constitution spells out what is considered treason in the United States:

“Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.”

Among the treason trials in the past two centuries were the acquittal of Aaron Burr, the former vice president, and the convictions of abolitionist John Brown, the four Abraham Lincoln assassination conspirators, and alleged spy couple Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.

The U.S. legal code spells out the punishments for treason, which includes death.

“Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”

The Rosenbergs were the last people in the U.S. involved in a treason trial to be convicted, sentenced to death, and then executed. Their execution in 1953 was debated globally and was seen as an important development in the Cold War and the expansion of the era of McCarthyism.

Today, several senators, including Dianne Feinstein, want Edward Snowden taken into custody, returned to the United States, and put on trial for treason, which Congress has a right to advocate for under the Constitution.

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Source: National Constitution Center, June 11, 2013. Scott Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center.