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Code Committee

Article 146 of the UCMJ historically established a committee to meet annually for the purpose of making an annual survey of the operation of the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice.) The Committee was composed of the judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the Judge Advocate General of the Army, the Judge Advocate General of the Navy, the Judge Advocate General of the Air Force, the Judge Advocate General of the Coast Guard, the Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and two members of the public appointed by the Secretary of Defense. The meetings were open to the public. Notice of the meetings was published in the Federal Register and on this webpage. The Annual Reports of the Committee were published in West's Military Justice Reporter. The historic reports are available on the Court's website.

Article 146 was modified by the Military Justice Act of 2016,¹ creating a new Military Justice Review Panel established by the Secretary of Defense. The Court's limited interface with the new panel, as found in the statute, is that the Secretary of Defense is to consider any recommendation made by the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces for the nonspecified remaining members of the panel. The Court's historic role on the former Code Committee and in compiling the annual report was replaced by a separate reporting requirement for the Court. See Article 146a(a) (prescribing an annual report from the Court).²

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¹ National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, Pub. L. No. 114-328, § 5521, 130 Stat. 2000, 2962 – 2964 (2016).

² Id. § 5522, 130 Stat. 2000, 2964 (2016).