United States v. Baker

Initially, I must state my disagreement with the contention advanced in the principal opinion that “the President did not simply adopt the so-called ‘Blockburger’ rule to determine whether offenses arising from the same transaction were separate for purposes of punishment in the military justice system.” 14 M.J. 361, 369. In Block-burger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), the Supreme Court announced the following rule of statutory construction:

Each of the offenses created requires proof of a different element. The applicable rule is that, where the…