Prof. Dunlap Enters the Fray

6/2/2021

Over at Lawfire.

Editor's note: Prof. Dunlap marshals a list of commentators who oppose the reforms, perhaps giving a casual reader the impression of a united front. As anyone following this blog should know, there is no such consensus. The issue has sharply divided this community. At this point, though, there are 65 US Senators co-sponsoring the reform. The time for blogs and articles is over: our elected officials have made up their minds.

5 Comments

Brian L. Cox link

6/3/2021 12:49:46 am

Thanks for posting! While I certainly concur with the observation that this issue has sharply divided this community, I would like to respectfully challenge the assertion that our elected officials have made up their minds. Senator Gillibrand undoubtedly did as early as 2014 when she said in a Time interview that she "will certainly never give up the fight" after one of the iterations of this reform was defeated. Until there is an adopted Bill to forward to POTUS, though, it seems a bit premature to say that enough of our elected officials truly have made up their minds such that the reformists have finally carried the day. It's hard to tell from here whether that is an oasis or a mirage ahead...but time will tell.

Brian L. Cox link

6/3/2021 12:50:14 pm

Quick question: If the community of military justice experts is so sharply divided on this issue (which I agree that it is), can anyone explain why one of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's websites claims that "[m]ilitary justice experts agree that the decision to prosecute from the chain of command to independent [prosecutors]"?

There may not exactly be a united front of experts in opposition to the suggested reform, but is there a united front in our community *in favor* of the reform that I'm just missing? Anyone?

For reference, the "military experts agree" assertion is drawn from this website:

https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/news/press/release/senators-gillibrand-grassley-ernst-blumenthal-cruz-shaheen-kelly-and-military-sexual-assault-advocates-introduce-new-bipartisan-military-justice-improvement-and-increasing-prevention-act

Concerned Citizen

6/3/2021 01:20:44 pm

"The time for blog posts and articles is over: our elected officials have made up their minds"

Even if they pass it there's still time for debate: it will just shift to whether doing so was a good idea.

I will remain hopeful that switching to JAGs will result in less "trying the hard cases" (code for using a stacked deck to try to put an innocent soldier in jail out of fear of political pressure).

Brenner Fissell

6/3/2021 01:38:56 pm

Thank you both. I'm just wondering if we are beating this dead horse too much on the blog. Let me know... The topic is starting to get a bit boring. Is there anything left to say?

Brian L. Cox link

6/3/2021 01:50:44 pm

Brenner, stay tuned - you never know what interesting little treasures you might find by digging in a new patch of ground. As I suggested in the initial comment in this thread, pronouncing this horse dead may be a touch premature at this point.

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CAAFlog

Prof. Dunlap Enters the Fray

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