I guess this where we may have to agree to disagree. I’d argue that “levying war” includes the planning stage, and that the parallel to murder doesn’t apply.
Of course, you have to draw the line somewhere. Two people emailing “Hey, wouldn’t it be great to blow up the US Capitol with Congress in session” probably wouldn’t be treason. But if they bought the ANFO and rented the van, it would.
Agree Akaj,
LEVYING WAR, crim. law. The assembling of a body of men for the purpose of effecting by force a treasonable object; and all who perform any part however minute, or however remote from the scene of action, and who are leagued in the general conspiracy, are considered as engaged in levying war, within the meaning of the constitution.
There aren’t a whole lot of treason cases, but to quote Chief Justice Marshall in 1807:
To constitute that specific crime for which the prisoners now before the court have been committed [i.e., treason], war must be actually levied against the United States. However flagitious may be the crime of conspiring to subvert by force the government of our country, such conspiracy is not treason. To conspire to levy war, and actually to levy war, are distinct offences. The first must be brought into operation by the assemblage of men for a purpose treasonable in itself, or the fact of levying war cannot have been committed.
And elsewhere (quoting another case) that: “a combination or conspiracy to levy war against the United States is not treason, unless combined with an attempt to carry such combination or conspiracy into execution; some actual force or violence must be used in pursuance of such design to levy war.” (emphasis added).
Although, back to the original post, that decision also explains that “a design to overturn the government of the United States . . . by force, would have been unquestionably a design which, if carried into execution, would have been treason, and the assemblage of a body of men for the purpose of carrying it into execution would amount to levying of war against the United States” and “if a body of people conspire and meditate an insurrection to resist or oppose the execution of any statute of the United States by force, they are only guilty of a high misdemeanor; but if they proceed to carry such intention into execution by force, that they are guilty of the treason of levying war.”
Which does suggest that (at least to Marshall and Chase) “levying war” does include a violent semi-organized protest (and would seem to exclude my examples of a spy or saboteur).
It’s not full circle. It’s a direct line.
Those that organized the 1/6 event are traitors. It’s spelled out quite clearly in the above posts.
Many of those that participated in this “friendly political discourse” are clearly too stupid to know what was going on. Those that arranged it, planned it, led it, and did not try to stop it are traitors.