I. INTRODUCTION
**Alert: Amos Miller Special Dinner Fundraiser: https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7756876/1776-law-center-fundraiser-birthday-bash-at-amos-millers
A. Art of the Week
- From a board member, this photo captures a place I want to someday retreat to — out in the woods, with a wood fireplace inside & out, in a cozy cabin that embraces its surroundings while escaping the busy, busy world of concrete interiors and crowd-field valleys between mountainous walls of sky-rising office towers and condos. A place to be still with nature and within it while outside its colder embrace.
B. Recommendation of the Week
- Pat Buchanan warning us three decades ago: America is a Republic, Not an Empire. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/765037.A_Republic_Not_an_Empire
C. Wisdom of the Week
- "My apprehension is traceable, too, to a belief that our republic has begun to retrace, step by step, the march of folly that led to the fall of the British and every other great empire.” Pat Buchanan, 1999.
D. Appearances
- LIVE on Charlie Kirk Show
- LIVE w/ Baris
- LIVE w/ Lt. Col. Davis
- LIVE Monday on Bracket Breakdown https://sportspicks.locals.com/post/7765283/live-breaking-down-the-brackets-betting-w-barnes-monday-march-16-2026
II. THE EVIDENCE
*NOTE: A reminder: links are NOT endorsements of the authors or their interpretation of events, but intended to expand our library of understanding as well as expose ideas of distinct perspective to our own.
A. Barnes Library: Curated Weekly Articles
- Myth of EU Military. https://eventsinukraine.substack.com/p/eu-weapons-complex-rises
- Populists oppose the war. https://x.com/PatrickBashamDI/status/2032186099804651697?s=20
- Trouble in private credit markets. https://www.aol.com/veteran-fund-manager-george-noble-093001166.html
- Cuba next? https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/03/13/cuba-confirms-talks-trump-economic-deal/89132765007/
- SAVE Act struggles. https://spectator.com/article/trump-defeat-senate-republicans-save-act/?edition=us&rcp=true
*Bonus: Rescuing sloths.
B. Best of the Board: Five Fantastic Posts of the Week
- Tennessee toward top of move-in list. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7764685/title
- Truth. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7764970/they-had-a-golden-opportunity-squandered-to-do-the-bidding-of-another-country
- Humor. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7764477/been-there
- Epstein as global framing. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7765282/title
- Mematic truth. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7764927/title
*Bonus: Spooky day. https://vivabarneslaw.locals.com/post/7765058/title
C. Homework: Cases of the Week for Sunday
- Antitrust settlement controversy. https://prospect.org/2026/03/09/live-nation-settlement-spurs-chaos-in-court/
- Social media to jury. https://courthousenews.com/landmark-social-media-addiction-trial-heads-to-jury/
- Israel lets war criminals walk. https://x.com/TRHLofficial/status/2032256539830972614?s=20
- Israel at ICJ. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/united-states-declaration-of-intervention-genocide-in-the-gaza-strip-icj.pdf.pdf
- Torture verdict. https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/251043.P.pdf
- Judges protect DEI. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/institute-for-applied-ecology-v-burgum-opinion-dei-grants.pdf
- Online risks to kids. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/netchoice-vs-bonta-opinion.pdf
- Richins murder trial. https://www.fox13now.com/news/crime/kouri-richins-defense-team-surprisingly-rests-case-without-calling-single-witness
- Qui Tam win over Pharma fraud. https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/241793.P.pdf
- Necessary parties. https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/232316.P.pdf
- Trans care mandates. https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/movaokabwva/USA_HEALTH_TRANSGENDER_WESTVIRGINIA.pdf
- 1st Amendment in schools. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/BB-Capistrano-Unified-ninth-circuit-opinion.pdf
*Bonus: Italy court affirms citizenship limits. https://www.cortecostituzionale.it/uploads/release/69b2adc90cb9b.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawQgK8hleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF0UG41c3M1aWhsTHZ4U1lyc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHhvXqFDR4BGvMTH3XKnxYxpQ-KxzoZCTGOtJDHeTDemH3z9pPKTgaJtL2dME_aem_rFeIHB6Nrrwte1UJXunMPA
**Bonus: Limits of Anti-SLAPP. https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/OpinionsPDFVersion/Majority%20Opinion%20-%20W2022-01636-SC-R11-CV.pdf
***Bonus: EV Mandate. https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/trump-california-ev-mandate-complaint.pdf
D. Deep Dive: Iran War Risks
- $50B more for Iran War. https://debtdispatch.substack.com/p/5-reasons-the-us-should-not-spend
- Battle of weapons attrition. https://mrandrewfox.substack.com/p/the-iran-war-is-now-an-ammunition
- Epic Folly? https://richardhaass.substack.com/p/epic-folly-march-12-2026
- China? https://greenwald.substack.com/p/iran-war-supporters-invent-a-new
- Nukes? https://sonar21.com/should-iran-build-a-nuke-game-theory-says-yes/
*Bonus: Chess strategy needed. https://fallows.substack.com/p/the-arrogance-of-ignorance
III. CLOSING ARGUMENT: Article I, Defining War Crimes
- Two sources in the Constitution provide the power to Congress to define war crimes.
- First, Section 8 of Article I provides three separate sources of legislative authority, as Congress is a body of only defined, express powers, not inferred, implicit or broad powers. Article 1, Section 8 provides that Congress “shall have Power” to “define and punish Piracies and Felonies on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations”; “to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water”; “to make Rules for the government and Regulation of the land and Naval forces.”
- Second, the Congress enjoys the power to enforce Treaties. Article VI provides “all Treaties made, and which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”
- The phrase “the Law of Nations” derives from a popular scholastic legal work in many a library of the Founding generation entitled: The Law of Nations, or Principles of the Law of Nature, Applied to the Conduct and Affairs of Nations and Sovereigns” by Emmerich de Vattel, published in 1758. Today, we know it by another name: international customs and law.
- First, Vattel’s Law of Nations recognized war as illegal, and any actions taken in its kinetic course and conduct, as a crime against the law of nations whenever it is fought for reasons other than self-defense and securing essential rights of sovereignty, and even then, only after meaningful sincere diplomatic and peaceful efforts fail. This was colloquially called Just War, influenced by the Catholic intellectual tradition especially.
- Second, Vattel’s Law of Nations required moderation, sparing civilians, treating prisoners with humanity, and especially prohibited denying quarter to those who have not violated the laws of war.
- The early Congresses recognized their obligations to declare war by authorizing conflict with France, the Barbary pirates, and American tribes on the frontier. Presidents Washington, Adams and Jefferson all recognized their requirement for Congressional authorization to initiate force against foreign adversaries.
- The very first Congress also accepted this Constitutional authorization and included the law of nations violations in its first Judiciary Act of 1789. The very first criminal prosecution ever in federal courts enforced these Law of Nations against Gideon Henfield for violating America’s neutrality in the British-French wars at the time. Chief Justice Jay identified the source of law for the prosecution: the Law of Nations, which Congress gave the courts the power to enforce under the Judiciary Act of 1789.
- Treaties signed by the President and affirmed by the requisite vote in the Senate governing conduct in kinetic conflicts include: the Geneva Convention; The Hague Conventions; and the Pact of Paris of 1928. Congress codified several of the precepts and principles from these treaties and conventions into federal statutory criminal law, such as section 2441 of Title 18 of the United States Code, which include the death penalty as a possible sentence.
- The key criminal prohibitions for grave violations of these treaties and the Law of Nations, include: torture; curly or inhumanity toward anyone in custody or control; biological experiments; and murder, mutilation, maiming, or serious bodily injury in violations of the law of war, including harm to anyone “taking no active part in the hostilities” which include those “out of combat” for any reason, such as the injuries, detained or “any other cause.” The law excludes Antone harmed from “collateral damage” or “lawful attack.”
- Thus, the Law of Nations still guides American law, as it has from the founding the of the nation, and expressly referenced within the explicit powers of Congress to enforce, be it by treaty or particular statute, or simply judicial authority to prosecute or punish.
