Cert Denied in Bess

6/22/2021

"The U.S. Supreme Court won’t examine the issue of race and jury selection in military courts-martial, rejecting the appeal of a Black service-member convicted by an all-White panel of sexual misconduct against White women.

Declining review of the case on Monday, the justices passed on considering how the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on race discrimination in the jury-selection process applies to the military’s unique trial system." Bloomberg reports here.

3 Comments

Attorney

6/22/2021 08:29:46 pm

I suspect one of the reasons the Court did not grant review was because the record was not adequately developed.

In fact, one of the questions presented to the Court was whether the CAAF erred by not remanding for factfinding.

Predictably, the Solicitor General replied: "[P[etitioner’s request for factbound error correction on the CAAF’s determination whether to remand the case for an evidentiary hearing does not warrant this Court’s review."

It seems hard to imagine the SG taking such a dismissive posture in a future case with a developed record.

Scott

6/23/2021 08:31:07 am

Thank you for that insight. That’s illuminating.

Donald G Rehkopf, Jr.

6/23/2021 02:53:30 pm

The cert. denial here, while not unexpected, also offers a subtle - but important - hint based upon the SG's position, which is addressed in SCOTUS Rule 10, "A petition for a writ of certiorari is rarely granted when the asserted error consists of erroneous factual fndings . . . ." The easy answer here is to file a Habeas Petition under 28 USC 2241, "expand the Record" and if necessary, seek an evidentiary hearing in the District Court.

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

CAAFlog

Cert Denied in Bess

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