United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces hears appeals from the military courts (“courts martial”) of the army, navy, air force and coast guard. The Court was originally created in 1951 as the “United States Court of Military Justice.” The name was changed in 1994.

Legal Materials

Information about the court, including the Court’s Rules of Practice and Procedure are posted on the Court Web site. For tips and commentary, see Guide to the Rules of Practice and Procedure for the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces(LexisNexis).

Opinions: Opinions issued by the Court from 1951 to 1975 were published in Court Martial Reports, then from 1975 to the present in the Military Justice Reporter. Opinions from October 1, 1996 to the present are posted on the Court Web site.

You can pull opinions from Westlaw or Lexis using the format “xx C.M.R. xx” or “xx M.J. xx”. The Court’s opinions are searchable on Lexis (MILTRY;CAAF). They are searchable with the opinions of the military Courts of Criminal Appeals on both Lexis (MILTRY;COURTS) and Westlaw (MJ).

Background: The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces

Beginning in 1789, Congress has created a system of military courts for each branch of the nation’s armed forces, as an exercise of its expressed power to “make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval forces.” 21 These military courts– courts-martial –serve the special disciplinary needs of the armed forces and are not a part of the federal court system. Their judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, court reporters, and other personnel are all members of the military; most of them are officers. They conduct trials of those members of the military who are accused of violating military law. Today, the proceedings in a court-martial are very much like the trials held in civilian courts across the country.

In 1950, Congress created the Court of Military Appeals, now titled the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, to review the more serious court-martial convictions of military personnel. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces is a civilian tribunal, a court operating as part of the judicial branch, entirely separate from the military establishment. Its five judges–a chief judge and four associate judges–are appointed by the President and Senate to 15-year terms.

Appeals from the court’s decisions can, in a limited number of cases, be taken to the Supreme Court. It is, then, the court of last resort in most cases that involve offenses against military law.