2023 Amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States
Signed July 28, 2023·Joseph R. Biden Jr.·88 FR 50535
Source
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Plain-language summary
Amends the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, which sets rules and procedures for military justice under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It makes three sets of changes, attached as annexes, to various parts of the manual covering pretrial, trial, and sentencing procedures. Amendments in Annex 1 take effect immediately. Amendments in Annex 2 take effect on the date set by section 539C of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022. Annex 3 adds new appendices and takes effect December 27, 2023, under section 539E(f) of the same law. The order specifies that none of these changes can be used to punish conduct that was not already punishable when it occurred, and that ongoing military justice proceedings begun before the relevant effective dates may continue as if the changes had not been made. It applies to military personnel and officials involved in courts-martial and related proceedings.
Not written or reviewed by a person. Read the full order below for anything you intend to rely on.
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Legal standing
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Claimed authority
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including chapter 47 of title 10, United States Code (Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. 801-946a), and in order to prescribe additions and amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, prescribed by Executive Order 12473 of April 13, 1984, as amended, it is hereby ordered
Quoted from the order as written. Many orders cite nothing more specific than “the Constitution and the laws”; this reproduces what the order claims, not an assessment of whether it holds.
Disposition
See: EO 12473, April 13, 1984
Compiled after the fact by the National Archives, so recent orders often have none yet. An empty disposition means no record, not no activity.
The order, in full
Executive Order 14103 of July 28, 2023
2023 Amendments to the Manual for Courts Martial,
United States
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including chapter 47 of title 10, United
States Code (Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10
U.S.C. 801-946a), and in order to prescribe additions
and amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial, United
States, prescribed by Executive Order 12473 of April
13, 1984, as amended, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Part II, Part III, Part IV, and Part V of
the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States, are
amended as described in Annex 1, which is attached to
and made a part of this order. The amendments in Annex
1 shall take effect on the date of this order, subject
to the following:
(a) Nothing in Annex 1 shall be construed to make
punishable any act committed or omitted prior to the
date of this order that was not punishable when
committed or omitted.
(b) Nothing in Annex 1 shall be construed to
invalidate any nonjudicial punishment proceeding,
restraint, preliminary hearing, referral of charges,
trial in which arraignment occurred, or other action
begun prior to the date of this order, and any such
nonjudicial punishment proceeding, restraint,
preliminary hearing, referral of charges, trial in
which arraignment occurred, or other action may proceed
in the same manner and with the same effect as if the
Annex 1 amendments had not been prescribed.
Sec. 2. Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and
Appendix 12A of the Manual for Courts-Martial, United
States, are amended as described in Annex 2, which is
attached to and made a part of this order. The
amendments in Annex 2 shall apply in accordance with
the effective date established by section 539C of the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022
(NDAA FY 2022), Public Law 117-81, subject to the
following:
(a) Nothing in Annex 2 shall be construed to make
punishable any act committed or omitted prior to the
effective date established by section 539C of the NDAA
FY 2022.
(b) Nothing in Annex 2 shall be construed to
invalidate any nonjudicial punishment proceeding,
restraint, preliminary hearing, referral of charges,
trial in which arraignment occurred, or other action
begun prior to the effective date established by
section 539C of the NDAA FY 2022, and any such
nonjudicial punishment proceeding, restraint,
preliminary hearing, referral of charges, trial in
which arraignment occurred, or other action may proceed
in the same manner and with the same effect as if the
Annex 2 amendments had not been prescribed.
Sec. 3. Appendix 12B, Appendix 12C, and Appendix 12D
are added to the Manual for Courts-Martial, United
States, and Part II of the Manual is amended as
described in Annex 3, which is attached to and made a
part of this order. The additions and amendments in
Annex 3 shall take effect on December 27, 2023, and
shall apply in accordance with section 539E(f) of the
NDAA FY 2022 (10 U.S.C. 853 note), subject to the
following:
(a) Nothing in Annex 3 shall be construed to make
punishable any act committed or omitted prior to the
effective date established by section 539E(f) of the
NDAA FY 2022.
(b) Nothing in Annex 3 shall be construed to
invalidate any nonjudicial punishment proceeding,
restraint, preliminary hearing, referral of charges,
trial in which arraignment occurred, or other action
begun prior to the effective date established by
section 539E(f) of the NDAA FY 2022, and any such
nonjudicial punishment proceeding, restraint,
preliminary hearing, referral of charges, trial in
which arraignment occurred, or other action may proceed
in the same manner and with the same effect as if the
Annex 3 amendments had not been prescribed.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
July 28, 2023.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed July 28, 2023. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.