
Litigator Libations
Updates and tips on defensive litigation in military justice including discussing recent appellate decisions and providing advocacy tips.
Litigator Libations
90 - U.S. v. Taylor; U.S. v. Harborth; and Considering "or" in Specifications
In this week's (lengthy) episode we discuss United States v. Taylor, which deals with the statutory requirements that must be satisfied when involuntarily recalling a reserve member to active duty for purposes of court-martial (and how they differ from the statutory requirements that must be satisfied to subject the reservist to UCMJ jurisdiction). We then discuss United States v. Harborth, where the issue was whether the government must have probable cause before accepting property seized by a private party . . . but the court avoids answering that question by finding 1) Harborth waived consideration of the length of time the property was held without probable cause, 2) a search or seizure by a private actor, not acting at the behest of the government, does not implicate the Fourth Amendment, and 3) the waiver was not IAC because, even if the search was unconstitutional, the military judge would have nevertheless exercised his discretion to find that suppression of the evidence was not warranted. Not great.