Two new military cert petitions

The Supremes' docket today included two new military cert petitions.

The first, Jenkins v. United States, No. 06-650, is an Air Force case that seeks review of an exceptionally interesting CAAF decision. 63 M.J. 426 (C.A.A.F. 2006). (Note that "exceptionally interesting" bears virtually no relation to "cert granted.") The CAAF case involved exceptions to the military's psychotherapist-patient privilege that seem out of whack with the Supremes' decision in Jaffee v. Redmond, 518 U.S. 1 (1996).

The second, Washington v. United States, No. 06-654, is a Navy-Marine Corps case that presents two issues:

Whether the failure to properly swear a witness in a criminal trial is constitutional error for the purposes of applying a harmless-beyond-a-reasonable-doubt test for prejudice in the absence of a timely objection; and

Whether the Confrontation Clause and Maryland v. Craig require child witnesses to be made aware of the penalties of false testimony before testifying.

The opinion below is reported at 63 M.J. 418 (C.A.A.F. 2006).

Eight cert petitions have now been filed this Term seeking review of CAAF decisions. Five have been denied.

--Dwight Sullivan