The Spring 2010 Reporter is available here.  It includes many articles of particular interest to military justice wonks.

First, there’s a point/counterpoint about concerns over the implications of the DOD information assurance program on the privileged nature of communications on military computers.  There’s an article by Maj Jeffrey G. Palomino about the 1st Lt Kelly Flinn case (Kelly Who? on page 22).  Maj Conrad J. Huygen wrote a piece on expert witnesses and consultants starting on page 38.  Capt Wendy S. Kosak reviews Vivian H. Gambara & Deborah A. Gambara’s Drowning in the Desert:  A JAG’s Search for Justice in Iraq (page 46).  SSgt Michael J. Badilla authored an article about forum selection called, On Sentencing:  Who’s the Fairest of them All? (page 48).  A short piece notes the 60th anniversary of the UCMJ (page 52).  And, finally, on page 53 there’s a call for submissions for the April 2011 edition of the Air Force Law Review, which will be a criminal law issue.  Is there an Air Force expression equivalent to “Oorah”?

The Spring 2010 issue of the Military Law Review is available here.  It appears to be the military commission/”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” edition.

The May issue of the Army Lawyer is now online here.

The issue contains another “Lore of the Corps” sketch by the Army JAG Corps’ Regimental Historian & Archivist, COL Fred L. Borch III.  This month’s sketch is about the execution of Private Eddie Slovik, the only American servicemember executed for a purely military offense since the Civil War.  It’s available here.

Also of interest to military justice wonks is an article by Major Troy C. Wallace called Command Authority:  What Are the Limits on Regulating the Private Conduct of America’s Warriors?, available here.

The issue also notes changes to the Army JAG School’s Criminal Law Advocacy Course.

Finally, the issue reprints an article from the New England Journal on Crime and Civil Confinement called Pretrial Advice for Representing Mentally Ill Criminal Defendants in the Military Justice System.  It’s available here.  We noted the original publication here.

An interesting, but not totally military justice related, article in the Public Contract Law Journal this month, Richard, MAJ Theodore, Reconsidering the Letter of Marque: Utilizing Private Security Providers Against Piracy, 39 Publ. Contract L. J. 441 (Spring 2010).  The article analyzes the potential use of Letters of Marque in combating the current spate of piracy emanating from Somali.  Interestingly the article in discussing accountability for contractors issued letters of marque does not reference special maritime jurisdiction or other extraterritorial statutes (e.g. MEJA) that might be applicable in this context if letters of marque are issued and tied to contingency operations in support of Congress’ Authorization for the Use of Military Force in 2001.

Mary Hall called my attention to Lawrence J. Morris’s new book, Military Justice: A Guide to the Issues.  It’s availabe from Amazon.com (here) for $44.95 and from Barnes & Noble (here) for $35.96.  I ordered a copy yesterday; I let you guess which bookseller I chose to buy it from.

Here’s the publisher’s description:

Public, press, and academic interest in the military justice system has increased over the past generation. This is a result of several high-profile trials (the Sergeant Major of the Army and Kelly Flinn, among many others), a popular TV show (even if it was Navy JAGs), and broader public attention to and interest in the military, stemming from the post-Cold War prominence of the military (Gulf War I, Balkans, and post-9/11 operations). In addition, some of the more prominent cases from the war in Iraq, including Abu Ghraib and detainee cases, as well as the GTMO military commissions, have kept military justice in the news. There are many misconceptions about the rudiments of the military justice system. Many perceive severity where there is none (though there are features that differ from the civilian system, sometimes unfavorably for the accused), and few are aware of its unique protections and features. Senators Lott and McConnell were not unique in the inaccurate perceptions they publicly stated about military justice during hearings on military tribunals. This volume would accomplish two main purposes: (1) provide comprehensive, accurate, and current information about the military justice system and related disciplinary features, written in laymen’s language; and (2) explain the system through some illustrative or engaging anecdotes (e.g., the trials of Billy Mitchell, William Calley, and the World War II Nazi saboteurs, whose capture and trial provide the basis for today’s Guantanamo-based trials of suspected terrorists).

And here’s the table of contents:

Forward Colonel (Retired) Francis A. Gilligan ix

Introduction xi

Chapter 1 Why a Military Justice System: An Introduction to the Theory and History of American Military Justice 1

Chapter 2 Founding of the Republic to Modern Times: Military Justice Develops Alongside the Professional Military 14

Chapter 3 Basics of the Military Justice System: Structure and Levels of Military Courts 34

Chapter 4 Basics of the Military Justice System: The Investigative and Pretrial Processes 47

Chapter 5 Basics of the Military Justice System: Defining Criminal Conduct in a Unique Society 63

Chapter 6 Basics of the Military Justice System: The Trial and Appellate Processes 90

Chapter 7 Implementing the Uniform Code of Military Justice: A Generation of Change 122

Chapter 8 There’s More to Military Justice than Courts-Martial: Nonjudicial Punishment and Administrative Separations 148

Chapter 9 Back to the Future: Military Commissions to Try War Criminals 174

Glossary 201

Bibliography 207

Index 209

The April edition of the Army Lawyer is online here.  There’s not much of use to the military justice wonk, but there are a couple of items worth noting. 

First, Regimental Historian Fred Borch continues to enliven the Army Lawyer’s pages with interesting vignettes from the Army JAG Corps’ past.  This edition features his two-page article on one Judge Advocate General of the Army who served in that capacity for a day, and his successor who served twice as long — for two days.  Fred Borch, TJAG for a Day and TJAG for Two Days: Brigadier Generals Thomas F. Barr and John W. Clous, Army Law., April 2010, at 1.

The second thing worth noting is a grammatical error on the edition’s cover.  Lynne Truss wrote a wonderful bestseller inspired by “redundant apostrophes.”  Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves 1 (2003).  She writes, “For any true stickler, you see, the sight of the plural word ‘Book’s’ with an apostrophe in it will trigger a ghastly private emotional process similar to the stages of bereavement, though greatly accelerated.  First there is shock.  Within seconds, shock gives way to disbelief, disbelief to pain, and pain to anger.  Finally (and this is where the analogy breaks down), anger gives way to a righteous urge to perpetrate an act of criminal damage with the aid of a permanent marker.”  Id. at 1-2.

If Ms. Truss will be visiting your home for tea, please be sure to remove your copy of the April 2010 Army Lawyer from your coffee table.  For there on its cover is this article title:  An Open Letter to Staff Judge Advocates, Area Claims Officers, Claims Attorneys’ and Claims Professionals. Please vandalize away, Ms. Truss.  I’ll supply the Sharpies.

The March edition of the Army Lawyer is now online here.  It’s the second half of the military justice symposium.

Thanks to JO’C for calling our attention to this tribute that the Duke Law Journal published to honor Judge Everett.  Robinson O. Everett, 59 Duke L.J. 1433 (2010).  Authors include military legal luminaries Judge Cox and Scott Silliman.

Have I mentioned that last week I was accused of being obsessed with Melendez-Diaz? 

In addition to MAJ Froehlich’s outstanding article on Melendez-Diaz, the Army Lawyer’s Military Justice Symposium Issue (Part I) also includes this article on Fourth Amendment law, this article on post-trial matters (focusing largely on post-trial delay and problems with CA actions), this article on impeachment evidence, and this annual review of developments in instructions.

The issue’s foreward tells us that next month’s issue (which I guess is now this month’s issue) will include articles on: (1) aggravation evidence, (2) charging webcam-related sex crimes, (3) new developments in guilty pleas and pre-trial agreements, (4) unlawful command influence committed by judge advocates, (5) the evolution of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program, (6) professional responsibility for military justice practitioners, (7) a view from the bench, and (8) ”an infamous court-martial involving the wear of a pigtail.”

Happy reading!

The February issue of the Army Lawyer is now online here — and it’s the first part of the Military Justice Symposium.  Woo-hoo!

The issue includes this article on Melendez-Diaz’s effect on courts-martial.  It’ll be fun to read it and compare its conclusions to this week’s Blazier decision.