Court Martial Attorney- Bill would allow troops Supreme Court appeals

Court Martial Attorney- Bill would allow troops Supreme Court appeals

By Rick Maze - Staff writer

A House subcommittee considering a military justice bill that would allow service members to appeal court martial convictions to the U.S. Supreme Court was unhappy Thursday that the Obama administration refused to send a witness to explain why the Defense Department opposes the bill.

“I wonder what the UCMJ penalty is for failure to report to duty,” said Rep. Howard Coble of North Carolina, ranking Republican on House Judiciary Committee’s courts and competition policy subcommittee.

The bill under consideration is HR 569, the Equal Justice for Our Military Act of 2009, which passed the House of Representatives last year by voice vote but never passed the Senate, leading its longtime sponsor, Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif., to try again this year.

Davis, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee’s military personnel panel, said current law limits the right to appeal for service members in a way that gives them fewer rights than are available to civilians convicted of similar offenses, illegal immigrants and even enemy combatants, who all have the right to direct appeal to the Supreme Court.

Former service members tried and convicted under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act because they separated before being charged also have appeal rights not available to those tried and convicted under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice.

“This is a simple matter of fairness,” Davis said. “We ask our men and women in uniform to support and defend our Constitution, which guarantees due process, yet we deny some of them that process. The disparity with which defendants and the government are treated under the current law is an inequity that should be rectified.”

Cost appears to be a factor; estimates range from $30,000 to $1 million per appeal, an expense the government would bear because most service members convicted by court-martial would use military judge advocates for their appeals.






Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer - court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States. military-defense-lawyer-recentcases.htm.