Draft available of proposed Manual for Courts-Martial changes

The Defense Department has posted a notice of the availability of proposed changes to the Manual for Courts- Martial that would implement the Military Justice Act of 2016.

If you send in a comment to the government, please also post it on this blog so others will benefit. Don't forget to comment here using your own name, in accordance with R.B.R. 1.*

While it is of course a good thing that DoD is circulating these materials for public comment, as it has done since the Military Rules of Evidence were drafted, but hold the euphoria. The proposed changes implement a measure that was itself never the subject of a moment of congressional hearings open to the public. [Cue Bronx cheer for the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services.] An opportunity to comment on implementing regulations is better than nothing, but the fact is that in critical respects the horses have already left the barn.

* Global Military Justice Reform Blog Rule 1.