The State - News from July 11, 1985

A computer expert asked a federal appeals court in San Francisco to outlaw “computer-declared war,” saying it would mean Congress surrendering to machines its constitutional power to declare war. Clifford Johnson of Stanford University challenged the constitutionality of developing a “launch on warning” computer system that would respond automatically to warnings that foreign missiles had been launched against the United States. Johnson told a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that his suit does not challenge the development or deployment of nuclear weapons. Assistant U.S. Atty. John Penrose argued that the issue is really a political question and that the courts have limited power to rule on it. The panel did not say when it might act.