§948j Military Judge of a Military Commission

Summary

A military judge must be assigned to every military commission. The Secretary of Defense must make rules for how judges are assigned. The judge will run the commission proceedings for the case they are assigned to. To serve, a judge must be a commissioned officer who is a member of a Federal court bar or the highest court bar of a State and who the Judge Advocate General has certified under section 826 (article 26 of the UCMJ) as qualified for general courts-martial. Anyone who is the accuser, a witness, or who acted as investigator or counsel in the same case cannot serve. A judge cannot talk privately with panel members and may only consult with them in the presence of the accused, trial counsel, and defense counsel (unless section 949d allows otherwise), and cannot vote with the members. Certified judges may do other duties if the Judge Advocate General or their designee approves. The convening authority may not prepare or review any report about a judge’s effectiveness, fitness, or efficiency that relates to the judge’s work on the commission.