Massachusetts v. Laird

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Massachusetts v. Laird
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided November 9, 1970
Full case name	Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Plaintiff v. Melvin R. Laird, Secretary of Defense
Citations	400 U.S. 886 (more) 91 S. Ct. 128; 27 L. Ed. 2d 130; 1970 U.S. LEXIS 514
Holding
Declined to hear the case.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices Hugo Black · William O. Douglas John M. Harlan II · William J. Brennan Jr. Potter Stewart · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun
s
Dissent	Douglas
Dissent	Stewart
Dissent	Harlan

Massachusetts v. Laird, 400 U.S. 886 (1970), was a case dealing with the conscription aspect of the Vietnam War that the Supreme Court declined to hear by a 6–3 vote.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts challenged the constitutionality of the war. It passed a law stating that no resident of Massachusetts "shall be required to serve" in the military abroad if the armed hostility has not been declared a war by Congress. The attorney general of Massachusetts asked the Supreme Court to hear its case to test the legality of the Vietnam War.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the case due to a lack of jurisdiction.