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Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Transparency watch

Tim Cushing writes here about shortcomings in access to U.S. court-martial records. Excerpt:

Court transparency and equitable access to court documents are ongoing struggles. The federal court system’s malicious compliance with congressional directives has given us exorbitant fees and a clunky, counterintuitive platform for online access to court documents.

Part of the federal court system doesn’t even give us that much. Despite being subject to a 2016 law mandating access to military court documents, the US military’s court system has continued to do its own thing. For seven years, it pretty much completely ignored the law ordering it to perform “timely” releases of court documents “at all stages of the military justice system.”

This hasn’t happened. . . .

He concludes: "Unless Congress is willing to step in and force the Defense Department to issue new guidance that actually complies with the 2016 [legislation], the military will continue to play keep away from taxpayers."

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