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What are the avenues for appeal in the military courts? Does it end up in the SC?

• torstenvl 9y ago
  Yes, for both courts-martial and commissions. I can only provide a good explanation of courts-martial, though, as I've never litigated in the commissions. Congress set up the military courts to function kind of like a state jurisdiction, with its own trial courts, intermediate appellate courts, and overarching appellate court of last resort. The trial courts are not standing courts, but are "convened" by commanders, and trial judiciary judges come to the convened court to preside (almost like how judges used to "ride circuit"). O-5 and O-6 commanders can usually only convene "special courts-martial" which have limits on the punishment they can mete out. Each military department has its own intermediate appellate court called a "Court of Criminal Appeals" (CCA). There's the ACCA, the AFCCA, the CGCCA, and the NMCCA (Navy/Marine Corps). These are sitting courts but, like the trial judiciary, the judges are uniformed military members. The court of last resort within the military justice system is the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF). They act like a "state Supreme Court" in a sense that they unify law within their jurisdiction, but you can still appeal their decisions to the U.S. Supreme Court. CAAF judges are civilians nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. A recent example of a case that was appealed to the Supreme Court (but the Supreme Court did not grant certiorari and hear the case) was US v. Sterling: http://www.caaflog.com/category/september-2015-term/united-states-v-sterling/ http://www.caaflog.com/category/september-2015-term/united-s...