Depositions

I have for some time been challenging the limitation on the defense opportunity to get depositions.

The usual response is that a deposition isn’t for “good cause” because, according to the Discussion under R.C.M. 704, the witness “will be available at trial.” I argue that R.C.M. 704 and the discussion are not procedure authorized by the President consistent with his Article 36, UCMJ, powers, but are substantive. If it is substance, then it is beyond the Article 36 power.

Here is an interesting article on the federal rules which may help with my argument, we’ll see.

The Criminal Rules Enabling Act, Max Minzner, University of New Mexico School of Law July 10, 2012 46 University of Richmond Law Review 1047 (2012)

Abstract: The Rules Enabling Act authorizes the Supreme Court to prescribe “general rules of practice and procedure” as long as those rules do not “abridge, enlarge or modify” any substantive right. The Supreme Court has frequently considered the effect of these restrictions on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In order to avoid Enabling Act concerns, the Court has imposed limiting constructions on a number of the Civil Rules. A significant academic literature has grown up analyzing and criticizing the Court’s approach in these cases, frequently arguing for more expansive interpretations of the REA that would place more significant constraints on the Civil Rules. The impact of these statutory restrictions on the Rules of Criminal Procedure, though, has been virtually unstudied. Neither the Supreme Court nor academics have focused on the Criminal Rules when interpreting the REA. This article argues that this approach is a mistake. Even under the most constrained view of the Rules Enabling Act, several Criminal Rules are potentially invalid because they are insufficiently procedural. After outlining the current doctrine on the Enabling Act and the Civil Rules, I provide a framework for applying the Act to the Criminal Rules and examine the constraints of the REA with respect to four Rules of Criminal Procedure that face validity challenges. In addition to identifying these Enabling Act issues, this article proposes potential interpretations of these Rules that can reduce their substantive effect by either reading the Rules narrowly or grounding the doctrines in federal common law, rather the Enabling Act.