Center for Constitutional Rights v. United States, 72 M.J. 126

First Principles: Jurisdiction: Generally

1. federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction; they possess only that power authorized by Constitution and statute, which is not to be expanded by judicial decree; it is to be presumed that a cause lies outside this limited jurisdiction, and the burden of establishing the contrary rests upon the party asserting jurisdiction
2. the requirement that jurisdiction be established as a threshold matter springs from the nature and limits of the judicial power of the United States and is inflexible and without exception
3. on every writ of error or appeal, the first and fundamental question is that of jurisdiction; this question a court is bound to ask and answer for itself, even when not otherwise suggested

First Principles: Jurisdiction: Of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces

1. the CAAF, and courts-martial in general, being creatures of Congress created under the Article I power to regulate the armed forces, must exercise their jurisdiction in strict compliance with authorizing statutes; as the Supreme Court held in Clinton v. Goldsmith, 526 US 529 (1999), when Congress exercised its power to govern and regulate the Armed Forces by establishing the CAAF, it confined the court’s jurisdiction to the review of specified sentences imposed by courts-martial; the CAAF has the power to act only with respect to the findings and sentence as approved by the court-martial’s convening authority and as affirmed or set aside as incorrect in law by the Court of Criminal Appeals
2. the CAAF is empowered to issue extraordinary writs under the All Writs Act; that Act provides that all courts established by act of Congress may issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law; the express terms of the Act confine the power of the CAAF to issuing process in aid of its existing statutory jurisdiction; the Act does not enlarge that jurisdiction; as noted by the Supreme Court, the CAAF is not given authority, by the All Writs Act or otherwise, to oversee all matters arguably related to military justice; the Act does not increase the areas of the CAAF’s jurisdiction beyond the limitations set out in Article 67, UCMJ
3. the CAAF was without jurisdiction over news organizations’ petitions for a writ of mandamus and/or prohibition to compel a court-martial to grant public access to documents filed in the court and to order the military judge to reconstitute past RCM 802 conferences and to conduct all future such conferences in a manner not inconsistent with the First Amendment right of public access; Congress confined the CAAF’s power to act only with respect to the findings and sentence as approved by the court-martial’s convening authority and as affirmed or set aside as incorrect in law by the courts of criminal appeals; the All Writs Act did not enlarge that jurisdiction; what the CAAF is asked to adjudicate amounts to a civil action, maintained by persons who are strangers to the court-martial, asking for relief - expedited access to certain documents - that has no bearing on any findings and sentence that may eventually be adjudged by the court-martial

Trial Stages: Writs and Interlocutory Appeals: All Writs Act

1. the CAAF is empowered to issue extraordinary writs under the All Writs Act; that Act provides that all courts established by act of Congress may issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law; the express terms of the Act confine the power of the CAAF to issuing process in aid of its existing statutory jurisdiction; the Act does not enlarge that jurisdiction; as noted by the Supreme Court, the CAAF is not given authority, by the All Writs Act or otherwise, to oversee all matters arguably related to military justice; the Act does not increase the areas of the CAAF’s jurisdiction beyond the limitations set out in Article 67, UCMJ