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House committee approves Supreme Court jurisdiction over court-martial appeals

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The US House Judiciary Committee has approved a bill to give the Supreme Court jurisdiction to review appeals of court-martial decisions. The proposed legislation, known as the Equal Justice for Our Military Act of 2009, would modify the high court's jurisdiction so that service members could petition for review if the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces declines to review the court-martial decision. Current law permits appeal to the Supreme Court only if the case has been heard by the Court of Appeals. The bill is sponsored by Susan Davis (D-CA), who testified before the committee: It is unjust to deny members of our Armed Forces access to our system of justice as they fight to preserve this very system. Under current law, members of the military who are convicted of offenses under the military justice system do not have the legal right to appeal their cases to the U.S. Supreme Court.The bill will now go before the full House.The companion bill in the Senate was introduced last week by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and was assigned to committee. Feinstein has long supported the bill, although it was introduced too late in the last session of Congress to be enacted. The American Bar Association wrote a letter to the committee in support of the bill last month, calling the current laws a "blatantly unfair procedural system stacked against the service member."

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 03, 2010 (boomark / email).