w\ i' / ( k.5 J&l-.t; fl.i-ii2 i - vr -7Y 2374&,(~ c~dal~~~~on~resiionalgi7625 Floor Debate ,A/I +-;!?7-5 on -- 1 2-" The Uniform Code of Military Justice CONGRESSIONAL FLOOR DEBATE ON UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE United States HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (Cong. Record, Vol. 95, Pt. 3, p. 4120) April 7, 1949 PUBLIC BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS Under Clause 3 of rule XXII, Public bills and resolutions were introduced and severally referred as follows: By lkr. Brooks: H.R. 4080. A bill to unify, consolidate, revise and codify the Articles of War, the Articles for the Government of the Navy, and the disciplinary laws of the Coast Guard and to enact and establish a Uniform Code of Military Justice; to the Committee on Armed Services. United States HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (Cong. Record, Vol. 95, Pt. 4 p. 5286) April 29, 1949 REPORTS OF COMMITTEES ON PUBLIC BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS Under Clause 2 of Rule XIII, reports of committees were delivered to the Clerk for printing and reference to tneproper calendar, as follows: Mr. Brooks: Committee on Armed Services, H. R. 4080. A bill to unify, consolidate, revise, and codify the Articles of War, the Articles for the Government of the Navy, and the disciplinary laws of the Coast Guard and to enact and establish a Uniform Code of Military Justice; with amend- ments (Rpt. No. 491). Referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. United States HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (Cong. Record, Vol. 95, Pt. 5, p. 5718) May 5, 1949 UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE Mr. Sabath: Mr. Speaker, I call up House Resolution 201 and ask for its immediate consideration. The Clerk read the resolution as follows: Resolved, That immediately upon the adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to move that the House resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole Rouse on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill (H. R. 4080) to unify, consolidate, revise, and codify the Articles of War, the Articles for the Government of the Navy, and the disciplinary laws of the Coast Guard and to enact and establish a Uniform Code of Military Jus- tice. That after general debate, which shall be confined to the bill and con- tinue not to exceed 3 hours, to be equally divided and controlled by the Chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Armed Ser- vices, the bill shall be read for amendment under the 5-minute rule. At the conclusion of the consideration of the bill for amendment, the committee shall rise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as may have been adopted and the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit. Mr. Sabath. Mr. Speaker, this rule makes in order a bill which has been reported from the Committee on Armed Services. It aims to unify, revise, and codify the Articles of War, the Articles for the Government of the Navy, and the disciplinary laws of the Coast Guard, and to enact and estab- lish a Uniform Code of Military Justice. I know that prill be pleasing and acceptable to all of us. The rule provides for 3 hours, general debate, and the bill will then be taken up, as usual, under the 5-minute rule. It is an ex- tremely important bill, but the most important part, to my mind, is the sec- tion providing for a special Coort of Military Appeals, which shall consist of three members to be appointed by the President, two of one party, and the third of the other party, which would have jurisdiction in all matters, instead of, as heretofore. having such matters under the control of the gentlemen of the Army and the Navy. I need not remind you of the many complaints that we have heard, and that the country has heard, relative to the unfair treatment accorded to enlisted men by those gentlemen. The gentlemen to be appointed to this court will be civilians, and will be ap- pointed for life tenure. The salary will be comparable to that of a United States Court of Appeals justice. I think this legislation is a step in the right direction. In view of the fact that the extremely able chairman of the committee is present, as well as the members of his committee, who have heard tihe evidence, I know that they are in a much better position than I am to explain the bill in detail. From what I have read of the bill and the evidence before our committee, I have come to the conclusion that it is a meritorious bili and really deserv- ing of the unanimous support of the Members of the House who believe in justice to those who frequently get themselves in a little trouble, not be- cause of their own fault, but because they disobeyed some of the unfair and arbitrary orders that some of these generals and colonels gave them, orders which they sincerely felt they were not obligated to comply with and which they felt were not germane to their draft status. But be that as it may, in this case those men will get justice in the future which has been denied them in the past. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the remainder of my time, and I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chelf). Without objection, it is so ordered. 2 There was no objection. Mr. Sabath. Mr. Speaker, I yield 50 minutes to my colleague from Illinois (Mr. Arends). ~. Arends. Mr. Speaker, I have no requests for time on the rule on this ,ide. I yield back my time. Mr. Sabath. Mr. Speaker, if there are no requests for time, I move the question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered. The Speaker pro tempore. The question is on agreeing to the resolution. The resolution was agreed to. Mr. Vinson. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole House on t,he State of the Union for the consider- ation of the bill (H. R. 4080) to unify, consolidate, revise, and codify the Articles of War, the Articles for the Government of the Navy, and the dis- ciplinary laws of the Coast Guard, and to enact and establish a Uniform Code of Military Justice. The motion was agreed to. Accordingly the House resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill H. R. 4080, with Mr. Lanham in the chair. The Clerk read the title of the bill. By unanimous consent, the first reading of the bill was dispensed with. The Chairman. Under the rule, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Vinson) is recognized for 1% hours. Mr. Vinson. Mr. Chairman, after 5 weeks of careful study on the part of the subcommittee, of which the distinguished gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Brooks) was chairman, that subcommittee reached a unanimous con- clusion, and that was unanimously approved by the full committee. This subcommittee has done an outstanding job. For 5 weeks the com- mittee conducted hearings, oftentimes working 6 days a week. This bill is endorsed and recommended by the Bureau of the Budget. It is approved by the National Military Establishment. It is approved by the administration, and it is unanimously approved, as I have said, by the Armed Services Committee. No member of the committee is better qualified to explain this bill than the distinguished gentleman from I'ouisiana (Mr. Brooks), and the other members of his subcommittee. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I am turning this bill over for explanation to the distinguished and learned gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Brooks). I yield the gentleman such time as he desires to use. Mr. Brooks. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the chairman of the corn- mittee for the kind words he has said on behalf of the subcommittee which handled this bill. In the handling of the bill we always have the full co- opmtion of the chairman of the committee, the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Vinson.) A number of times we had to appeal to him for guidance. He was always most cooperative. I feel that the cooperation he gave this subcommittee has gone a long way to make our labors pleasant and effectlve. Mr. Chairman, to every member of the subcommittee, I wish to pay a per- sonal tribute. The hearings by this committee, although extending over weeks, as the chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Vinson), has stated, oftentimes running 6 days a week and working late into Saturday afternoons, presented the unusual situation that instead of there being a falling off of attendance as the work went on, the attendance in- creased until during the last week of the hearings it was larger than at any previous time. All members of the committee participated actively in draft- ing this legislation, and it certainly was a most happy situation which presented itself when we finally voted on the bill and found every member of the committee in favor of it as reported, and all parts of it. Mr. Chairman, the purpose of the proposed legislation is to establish n uniform code of military justice. In July of 1948, Secretary of Defense Forrestal appointed a special com- mittee to draft a uniform code of military justice, uniform in substance and uniform in interpretation and construction, to be equally applicable to all of the armed forces.