Week in Review

United States Supreme Court

Begani v. United States. Petition for a writ of certiorari denied. No. 21-335, 2021 U.S. LEXIS 6197 (Dec. 13, 2021). Remember, the Supremes denied Larrabee's petition. That leaves Larrabee, now before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, as the retiree case that might get Supreme Court review because it proceeds there by a different route.

Federal Court of Canada

Neri, et. al. v. The Queen. For those following the vaccine litigation in the U.S., unsurprisingly, the Canadian military is facing similar issues. 

 ​The Applicants are members of the Canadian Armed Forces [CAF] who are unvaccinated  against COVID-19 for varied reasons. They are opposed to a vaccine mandate. None of the  Applicants has received an exemption or accommodation. They are concerned that as a result of  their stance, they will receive a dishonourable release from the CAF. The Applicants therefore  seek a “temporary prohibitive injunction” regarding the enforcement of any directive from the  (now) Chief of Defence Staff, General W. Eyre [CDS] regarding a vaccine mandate, pending the  outcome of their applications for judicial review challenging the directives [JR Applications]. 
. . . 
For all the foregoing reasons, I dismiss the Applicants’ motions for a temporary or  interlocutory injunction to restrain the enforcement of any directive regarding a vaccine mandate,  pending the outcome of their JR Applications. 

Pending Appellate Cases

United States v. Lindor. 

A Fort Hood staff sergeant, who worked on post as an investigator with the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, was sentenced to 70 years in prison for murdering his wife with puffer fish poison[.]

​At a court-martial held at Fort Hood Sept. 21-22, former Staff Sgt. Lesly J. Lindor pleaded guilty to murdering his wife of two years in 2018 with poison, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, or CID, confirmed Thursday. Tetrodotoxin is a deadly neurotoxin found in puffer fish and some other marine species, and can cause paralysis and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Worth the Read

Prof. Berman is always worth the read. Here he comments on military sentencing reform's in the NDAA.

Dan Maurer, What the FY 2022 NDAA Does, and Does Not Do, to Military Justice. Lawfire, Dec. 30, 2021.