Gusik v. Schilder, Warden (340 U.S. 128)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 4, 1950 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 340 U.S. 128 · 71 S. Ct. 149
- Docket
- No. 110
- Argued
- November 10, 1950
- Decided
- December 4, 1950
- Term
- October Term 1950
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Douglas
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Minton, Justice Clark, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Douglas (wrote), Justice Frankfurter, Justice Reed, Justice Black
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court. This is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed in the District Court on behalf of petitioner challenging the legality of his detention by respondent. Respondent ’holds Gusik pursuant to a court-martial judgment convicting him of murder while he was stationed in Italy as a member of the United States Army. After conviction by the court-martial petitioner exhausted all his remedies for reversal or modification of the judgment of conviction which then existed under the Articles of War. When he secured no relief from the military authorities he filed this petition in which he challenges the jurisdiction of the court-martial both under the Articles of War and the Constitution. The District Court, after a hearing, sustained the writ and released Gusik on bond. It found that the court-martial did not have jurisdiction, because no thorough and impartial pretrial investigation was conducted in compliance with Article 70 of the Articles of War, because the Trial Judge Advocate failed to call material witnesses, and because Gusik was denied the effective assistance of counsel. The Court of Appeals reversed, 180 F. 2d 662. It did not reach the merits of the case; it held that there was an administrative remedy which petitioner had not exhausted and that the petition must be dismissed without prejudice to the filing of a new…
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