United States v. Briggs (19-108)
argument 19-108United States v. Briggs
Supreme Court of the United States
1h 0m
7 speakers
6 chapters
transcribed 6 days ago
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What is the Supreme Court hearing in United States v. Briggs and why does it matter?
We will hear argument first this morning in case nineteen one hundred eight, United States versus Briggs. and the consolidated case. General Wall?
Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the court. When Congress said in Article forty three of the UCMJ that an offense punishable by death may be prosecuted at any time. Congress was referring to the punishments it had provided for in the very same code. Respondents say that Congress was up to something far more novel. It was importing the eighth amendment's proportionality standard into the otherwise simple and predictable calculation of the time for bringing a prosecution. In at least three ways. The text does otherwise. First, the penalty and limitations provisions mirror each other. Article one hundred twenty says rape may be punished by death, and Article forty three then refers to offense as punishable by death.
Congress naturally was referring in the limitations provision to the punishment it had fixed in the penalty provision. Second, Congress left no doubt in Article eighteen, which is the general jurisdictional provision for court mar courts martial. It allows courts martial to impose debt quote when specifically authorized by this chapter, end quote. And this chapter is the UCMJ. So Congress told us where to look in determining whether An offense is punishable by death. to the code. Congress then made death available for rape in Article one hundred twenty and made the most serious crimes, those punishable by death, prosecutable at any time in Article forty three. All of the statutory pieces fit cleanly together.
Third, Congress borrowed the language of the military limitations provision from the General Capital Limitations Provision eighteen USC thirty two eighty one, where the language dates back to nineteen thirty nine. For the past eighty years. The executive branch and every article free court to consider the phrase punishable by death in any context. has read it to refer to the statutory punishment. That old soil came with in Article forty three. For those reasons the courts have reverse on the statutory question without reaching the constitutional or retroactivity question.
Uh general you've been talking about what uh Congress did, but of course the the issue comes from what the court did. Um and uh I understand that the reference to punishable by death Was was a way for Congress as sort of a shorthand for what we regard as the most serious crimes, those are the ones that are not going to have any statute of limitations, but Uh, the court in in Cokert uh seemed to say that The most serious crimes that category punishable by death Can only include those uh crimes that have resulted in death and that rape can't be classified as among uh the most serious. Now why doesn't that uh determination by the court uh affect how we should read uh the statute in this case. Um uh the the reference uh in
uh uh sec article forty three uh uh refers to those punishable by death and and those are the most serious crimes and the court has told us in coker what that category can be.
Well Mr Chief Has I agree that you could read punishable by death in either of two ways 'cause it doesn't answer punishable under what? under the code or under the Constitution. If I'm right that text, history, precedent all suggest that what Congress meant when it said punishable by death was a reference to the punishment it had picked out in the code. And I think everybody agrees that that controls the meaning of the limitations provision, regardless of what punishment a a court martial could actually impose consistent with The constitution. And and so I think if we're right about what the statute means and what Congress was referring to, there's no need to reach the constitutional question. If the court does, if the court says, Well, for the first time ever, Congress looked outside the code to the Constitution.
Then yes, it's got to tackle the question of whether COCR applies, but the courts never applied uh COCR in the military setting. It consistently says that constitutional rights apply differently.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the Supreme Court hearing in United States v. Briggs and why does it matter?
0:00–11:37
2
How does the government argue that “punishable by death” refers only to the statutory punishment in the UCMJ?
11:37–21:53
3
Why do the parties say the Coker and Kennedy cases should not control the military’s rape statutes?
21:53–33:42
4
What historical and legislative evidence does each side use to support its reading of Article 43?
33:42–45:52
5
How does the government invoke constitutional avoidance and deference to Congress in this case?
45:52–57:41
6
What questions do the Justices raise about the meaning of “punishable by death” and the statute of limitations?
57:41–1:00:39