Political Question Doctrine

• Author: International Law Group

The plaintiffs in the following case are the children and personal representative of the Chilean general, Rene Schneider, who died during the 1970 coup d'Etat in Chile. In 2001, they sued the U.S. Government and former National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, in the District of Columbia federal court, alleging that the U.S. had a role in the abduction, torture and death of General Schneider.

According to plaintiffs, Socialist candidate Dr. Salvador Allende won a plurality of the vote in Chile's 1970 presidential election.

To prevent Allende from becoming president, U.S. "policymakers" considered a military coup. President Richard Nixon allegedly authorized $10 million toward such a goal. The then-U.S. Ambassador in Chile considered General Schneider an obstacle and recommended that he be "neutralized."

The district court granted the Government's motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) [lack of subject matter jurisdiction] and 12(b)(6) [failure to state a claim]. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirms, ruling that the claims raise non-justiciable political questions. The Court first outlines the doctrine's legal framework. "Contemporary application of the Political Question Doctrine ... draws on the analysis set forth in Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (S. Ct. 1962). The Baker Court first recognized that 'the political question doctrine is 'primarily a function of the separation of powers.'"

"' ... In Baker, the Supreme Court enumerated six factors that may render a case nonjusticiable under the Political Question Doctrine: '... [1] a textually demonstrable constitutional commitment of the issue to a coordinate political department; or [2] a lack of judicially discoverable and manageable standards for resolving it; or [3] the impossibility of deciding without an initial policy determination of a kind clearly for nonjudicial discretion; or [4] the...