U.S. civilians can face military trials

Newsdaily ^ | 15Jan07 | United Press International

[LuxMaker]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A last-minute addition to a federal spending bill at the end of the last U.S. Congress now makes civilians eligible for military courts-martial.

[LuxMaker]

"Right now, you have two different standards for people doing the same job," Graham said. "This will bring uniformity to the commander's ability to control the behavior of people representing our country."

It will be interesting to see if any congressperson or senator would ever be up for one of these.

[null and void]

Oh? IIRC, there is no presumption of innocence in the UCMJ...

[PGalt]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

[bravo whiskey]

if i were innocent i would rather have a miltary court martial than a civilian court.
if you look at court-martials at the platoon/company/battalion level it is true that the guilty rate is very high. but the libs and drive-by media don't tell you why. as a company commander whenever i gave an article 15 which is non judicial punishment, the soldier was offered a court-martial instead. that means any punishment i gave had enough evidence to go to court-martial wirh a very high chance of conviction. that is why there is such a high conviction rate.

[SmartAZ]

"Oh? IIRC, there is no presumption of innocence in the UCMJ..."

That's not all. The only right they recognize is the right to remain silent while they railroad you. 95% conviction rate ...

[FLOutdoorsman]

Huh, I guess no more adultery for them.

It's never a first-minute addition to a bill.

[null and void]

Huh?

The ones who volunteered for a Court Martial were preferentially guilty?

[LuxMaker]

When I was 20 and very green I received an Article 15 from my CO for not leaving my room unsecured. I was told by my then squad leader to leave my keys above the door, if I was going to leave the barracks, for the new guy. I completely blew it off because it was an unlawful order. I hope this level of justice is administered to the politically elite.

Actually I think this level of justice will never see the light of day when it comes to the upper echelon.

Also slightly off topic, this kind of behavior was also indicative of other problems in the unit as my roommate killed himself and someone was going around damaging only our squad's Humvees. Shortly after I left, a guy this same CO fastracked to E-5, blew up an ATM machine with C-4. I went to Desert Storm with this guy.

Also there was mold growing through the walls of my barracks room. I found out when I was getting ready to ETS that a room on the second floor was condemned for the very same thing.

[Rurudyne]

This concept violates the very principal of what it means to be a "civilian" as opposed to even a member of a lawfully constituted militia, much less a soldier.

But should we really be surprised?

Right now what we have in this country are two major political parties dominated by the legal ethic that if they've gotten away with doing something in the past then it must be legal––no matter what the Constitution says.

The only real difference is that the Democrats are even more sold out on this notion than the Republicans are. Yet both of these see in the Constitution: not an enumeration of necessary powers with no power to do anything else; but, rather its mirror image: the enumeration of necessary restrictions on government power with no bar to power to do anything else.

This is how a statement of purpose relative to a given enumeration of powers has been turned into an enumeration of power ... so long as it promotes the common welfare––whatever that is––anything goes.

Our political class, much like the legal class, is utterly lawless preferring its own traditions about the law that establishes them to the very law that establishes them.

[Krankor]

Were you executed?

[CrawDaddyCA]

...makes civilian government employees and journalists eligible for prosecution under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the Washington Post reported Monday.

This is...disturbing.

[gcruse]

The political spectrum shouldn't run from left to right. That masks what's really going on. It should run along a line that starts at liberty and ends at authoritarian.

Then we'd see that both parties ratchet towards centralized, controlling government, the pubs only slightly behind the dems, but both heavily on the authoritarian side of the center.

[balch3]

Start rounding up the MSM.

[JerseyHighlander]

If this passes Constitutional muster, it foretells a praetorian judicial inquisition. HUAAC will seem a lollipop daydream in comparison.

[RobbyS]

As the Duke case attests, really there is no such presumption in civil criminal law, either.

[investigateworld]

Your thoughts?

[Rurudyne]

Well said ... the soul of wit!

As odd as it may seem to say it: the quest for centralized power is an expression of self indulgent optimism that those with that power won't abuse it.

A cynic knows that if a government lacks the ability to excel at mendacity––as would be the case if power were decentralized––then there is little danger to liberty from that government.

Genuine federalism: a wisely cynical doctrine.

[null and void]

Yeah, that's how bad it can get even with the legal fiction of presumed innocence.

With even that thin layer of protection stripped away, why bother with anything more prolonged than a summary execution?

[Rurudyne]

Well, there was until the moment that someone figured out that guilty in the court of public opinion sells newspapers.

Or else brings fame and fortune to Dayton, TN ... whatever.

This is why I maintain that those who don't understand rhetoric are doomed to fall prey to it.

[null and void]

I think the key phrase is: "makes civilian government employees and journalists eligible for prosecution under the Uniform Code of Military Justice"

I read this as whistle blowers and reporters.

Bad enough under Bush, imagine a Hillary!™ regime with this tool...