United States v. Politte

ERDMANN, Judge, with whom BAKER, Judge,

joins (dissenting):

Because the majority finds ambiguity by going beyond the four corners of this otherwise unambiguous action, I respectfully dissent.

Article 60(c), Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), 10 U.S.C. § 860(c) (2000), empowers a convening authority to act upon the findings and sentence of a court-martial. See also Rule for Courts-Martial (R.C.M.) 1107. That empowering statute defines and limits what constitutes an “action”. Nothing within the statute includes the administrative disposition of a record of trial as part of the convening…