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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, June 12, 2002

US House Democrats Sue Bush Over ABM Treaty Withdrawal

Thirty-one Democrats in the U.S.House of Representatives filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against President George W. Bush, challenging his decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.


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Thirty-one Democrats in the U.S.House of Representatives filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against President George W. Bush, challenging his decision to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who led the lawsuit effort, said Bush does not have the authority to unilaterally withdraw from a treaty without seeking congressional consent first.

"The Constitution of the United States is being demolished and we need to challenge that in court," he said.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also named Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell as defendants.

The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to stop the pullout, and requests a decision on whether the Constitution allows the president to withdraw from the treaty without backing of Congress.

Bush announced in December his intentions to pull out of the ABM treaty signed 30 years ago with the former Soviet Union to clear the way for deployment of a national missile defense system.The treaty bars such a national missile shield.

Six months after the announcement, the United States will officially quit the treaty on Thursday. The Pentagon has said it is ready to begin work on underground silos for missile interceptors in Alaska as soon as the withdrawal takes effect.

Kucinich pressed unsuccessfully last week for a House vote on the withdrawal. On Monday, Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin alsotried unsuccessfully to bring a resolution to the Senate floor stating that the president cannot withdraw from the treaty withoutSenate approval.


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