Court Opinion

ID: 9444389
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 20:59:29.275315+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:51.193056
License: Public Domain

HUTCHESON, Chief Judge
(dissenting).
Of the opinion that the district judge was right in his view that the purpose and effect of Article 57(b) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 64 Stat. 126, 50 U.S.C.A. § 638, was to abolish the rule that sentences to confinement imposed by different courts martial may not be served concurrently but must be served independently, and that the provisions of Army Regulation, Sub-paragraph 3(b) (1) Army Regulation 600-340 were an abortive attempt to nullify the statute, I respectfully dissent from the opinion and conclusion of the majority that the judgment was wrong and must be reversed.
I, of course, agree that the Secretary of the Department or someone designated by him could, by an act of judgment in the particular case, have suspended the first or second sentence. I cannot agree that the exercise of judgment required in each such case can be dispensed with and the whole purpose and effect of the amendatory provision brought to naught by what in effect amounts to a secretarial proclamation thwarting the purpose of the section and preventing its effective operation.
I respectfully dissent.