John H. Robinson, IV wrote:
DJA wrote:
Or if you are in the military (where you have no Constitutional rights).
Have you ever been in the military?
Does twenty-seven months in the Brown Water Navy count? There and then
you couldn't even reliably count on being covered by the UCMJ.
Military personnel get to fully
enjoy all of their constitutional rights. It so happens that military
personnel also fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
For the most part, the UCMJ trumps the Constitution. It's the one
court-backed exception to the "Everyone has rights under the
Constitution" rule"[1].
It's pretty tough to maintain a standing army when you can't summarily
execute someone without a bunch of paperwork.
This is also why a lot of seeming infractions that would be enjoy full
Constitutional Protection fall under NJP, or Non-Judicial Punishment.
Non Judicial means outside of the (American) legal system.
Yep. Either you enjoy the rights - or you don't.
This is also why an active duty military person can be ``tried'' twice
for the same crime, notably under-age drinking or DUI.
Yes, despite that pesky part in the Constitution about double jeopardy.
I know it seems to civilians that military personnel have waived or
suspended their Constitutional rights, but this is a fallacy.
-john
Lot's of civilians have also waived one or more Constitutional rights,
especially their Fourth Amendment rights. Unfortunately, while the
electorate has been sleeping on election day, much of the Constitution's
old school ideas of liberty have been eliminated, or replaced with
something more malleable.
Legal and philosophical theory says rights can't be waived. That's why
they're called rights. The work-around is easy: "Except for you"[2].
[1] The Bush administration's recent made-up laws notwithstanding.
[2] That's pretty much the definition of "Person of Interest" and
"Detainee".
--
Best Regards,
~DJA.
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