Wednesday · November 11, 2026
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Supreme Court votes 6–3 to stay out of Massachusetts' fight over the Vietnam War

The state wanted its residents shielded from service in any conflict Congress had not declared; the justices declined to say whether it could.

The Supreme Court voted 6–3 on November 9, 1970, to stay out of the question of whether the Vietnam War was legal. Massachusetts had passed a law protecting its residents from being forced to fight in any military action Congress had not declared a war, and its attorney general asked the justices to let the state enforce it. Congress had never declared war in Vietnam, and the President was acting under the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of 1964. By refusing the case, the Court left the war's legality with the political branches…

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More from November 9
1979

NORAD screens show a massive Soviet strike; satellite and radar checks find no attack

A test tape is running as though it were real, and the warnings reach two continuity of government bunkers and command posts around the world.
1967

The first Saturn V leaves Florida with no crew aboard; the shock rattles the control center ceiling

Ten months after the Apollo 1 fire, NASA flies every stage and the spacecraft together on the very first try.
1862

McClellan says farewell to his troops; Burnside takes the Army of the Potomac

The handover happens in front of the Claggett farmhouse in New Baltimore, Virginia, two days after Lincoln settled on a more aggressive general.
18871776 Club
Eleven days after King Kalākaua signs, Washington holds a legal claim to a coaling and repair station on the shallow lagoon Hawaiians call Wai Momi.
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Read the full November 9 edition →Everything that happened on November 9 →
More from Cold War America
1979

Students storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran and seize hostages; they want the Shah sent home

Hundreds of students blindfold Marines and embassy staff and march them before photographers, with Washington's decision to shelter the exiled Shah as their stated grievance.
1956

Britain calls a ceasefire at Suez one day after its paratroopers land

Britain announces a ceasefire under Eisenhower's pressure on the day Americans vote him a second term.
1971

The AEC sets off a five-megaton bomb under Amchitka; the ground lifts 20 feet

Environmentalists had warned of earthquakes and a tsunami; the Supreme Court refused to stop the test by 4 votes to 3.
1982

Columbia lifts off with four aboard, the biggest crew yet, and two commercial satellites in the bay

After four test flights, the shuttle's fifth trip is its first with customers, and its crew rides up without pressure suits.
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