Reid v.Covert

354 U.S. 1 (1957)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The wife (Smith (P)) of an American officer who, as a military dependent, accompanied him to Japan, was tried by a general court-martial in Japan for the murder of her husband committed in that country. The jurisdiction of the court-martial rested on Art 2(11) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, providing that all persons accompanying the Armed Forces without the limits of the United States shall be subject to the Code if such jurisdiction is authorized under any treaty or agreement to which the United States is a party. In habeas corpus proceedings the wife challenged the validity of her conviction on the ground that the court-martial had no jurisdiction because Art 2(11) violated various constitutional provisions, particularly those which guaranteed the right to trial by jury to a civilian. The District Court discharged the writ. While her appeal from that dismissal was pending before D itself sought certiorari. The wife of an Air Force sergeant (Covert (P)) was tried by a court-martial in England for the murder of her husband in that country and was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. She was brought to the United States and was confined in a federal jail. On appeal, the United States Court of Military Appeals set aside her conviction, and she was transferred to a District of Columbia jail to await a rehearing by the court-martial in the District. She filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that she was not subject to court-martial jurisdiction because Art 2(11) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice was unconstitutional. The District Court ordered the writ to issue, and D appealed directly to the Supreme Court.