John Rolph is an American lawyer and officer in the United States Navy's Judge Advocate General corps. [1]
John Rolph is an American lawyer and officer in the United States Navy's Judge Advocate General corps. [1]
Captain John Rolph, JAGC, USN served as both an enlisted man and as an officer in the United States Navy during a 35-year career from 1973 until he retired in 2008. He served as an officer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the U.S. Navy from 1982 until 2008. He held many legal positions in the Navy, including prosecutor, defense counsel, staff judge advocate, executive officer and commanding officer. He served as the Command Judge Advocate on board the USS Independence (CVA-62) from 1988 to 1990, was the first Navy instructor/professor of law at the Army JAG School in Charlottesville, VA (International Law Department—1991-1993), and served as the Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of the Naval Legal Service Office in Norfolk, VA (1996–1998). His judicial positions include the following:
Rolph's appointment was mentioned in a jurisdictional appeal filed by Omar Khadr's lawyers. [4]
Khadr's lawyers had argued that the Military Commissions Act only authorized the Secretary of Defense to appoint a Chief Judge, not a Deputy Chief Judge. [3] And they pointed out that Rolph had been appointed the Deputy Chief Judge not by the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, but also by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England. In June 2007, in his role as Deputy Chief Judge, Rolph had completed the compilation of the Court's "rules of practice", which he published on June 28, 2007. Deputy Secretary England approved the rules of practice on August 13, 2007. Khadr's lawyers argued that Rolph lacked the jurisdiction to publish the Court's rules of practice—that only the Chief Justice had that authority. And they argued that only the Secretary of Defense had the authority to approve the rules; not his Deputy.
Khadr's lawyers' appeal was heard by the Court of Military Commission Review itself, which ruled, on September 19, 2008, that the Military Commissions Act gave the Secretary of Defense broad discretion in how he delegated the tasks involved in running and overseeing the court, and that the Rolph rules of practice compilation were properly authorized. [3]
The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is the foundation of the system of military justice of the armed forces of the United States. The UCMJ was established by the United States Congress in accordance with their constitutional authority, per Article I Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which provides that "The Congress shall have Power. .. to make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval forces" of the United States.
The Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as the "JAG Corps" or "JAG", is the legal arm of the United States Navy. Today, the corps consists of a worldwide organization of more than 730 commissioned officers serving as judge advocates, 30 limited duty officers (law), 500 enlisted members and nearly 275 civilian personnel, all serving under the direction of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan is a Yemeni man, captured during the invasion of Afghanistan, declared by the United States government to be an illegal enemy combatant and held as a detainee at Guantanamo Bay from 2002 to November 2008. He admits to being Osama bin Laden's personal driver and said he needed the money.
Peter E. Brownback III is a retired military officer and lawyer. He was appointed in 2004 by general John D. Altenburg as a Presiding Officer on the Guantanamo military commissions. The Washington Post reported: "...that Brownback and Altenburg have known each other since 1977, that Brownback's wife worked for Altenburg, and that Altenburg hosted Brownback's retirement party in 1999."
Charles D. Swift is an American attorney and former career Navy officer, who retired in 2007 as a Lieutenant Commander in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. He is most noted for having served as defense counsel for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a detainee from Yemen who was the first to be charged at Guantanamo Bay; Swift took his case to the US Supreme Court. In 2005 and June 2006, the National Law Journal recognized Swift as one of the top lawyers nationally because of his work on behalf of justice for the detainees.
Matthew Mark Diaz is a former active-duty Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) and Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAGC) officer in the United States Navy. In mid-to-late 2004, Diaz served a six-month tour of duty in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as deputy director of the detention center's legal office. Early in 2005 as LCDR Diaz was concluding his tour, he sent an anonymous greeting card to The Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York civil liberties and human rights group. The card contained the names of the detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. In July 2006, the United States government formally charged Diaz in a military court with five criminal counts related to the sending of these names, the most serious being that he intended to harm national security or advantage a foreign nation, a violation of the Espionage Act. In May 2007, he was convicted by a seven-member jury of military officers on 4 of 5 counts. He served a 6-month prison sentence and was dismissed from the military.
William "Bill" C. Kuebler was an American lawyer and a Commander in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps, assigned to the U.S. Navy Office of the Judge Advocate General, International and Operational Law Division. Kuebler was previously assigned to the Office of Military Commissions. Prior to the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, to overturn the then current version of the Guantanamo military commissions on constitutional grounds, Kuebler was detailed to defend Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi. Al Sharbi had insisted on representing himself and Kuebler refused superior orders to act as his lawyer.
The United States Marine Corps' Judge Advocate Division serves both to advise the Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) and other officials in Headquarters, Marine Corps on legal matters, and to oversee the Marine Corps legal community. The head of the Judge Advocate Division (JAD) is the Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant.
The Oregon Judicial Department (OJD) is the judicial branch of government of the state of Oregon in the United States. The chief executive of the branch is the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Oregon’s judiciary consists primarily of four different courts: the Oregon Supreme Court, the Oregon Tax Court, the Oregon Court of Appeals, and the Oregon circuit courts. Additionally, the OJD includes the Council on Court Procedures, the Oregon State Bar, Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability, and the Public Defense Services Commission. Employees of the court are the largest non-union group among state workers.
Thomas W. Hartmann is an American lawyer and officer in the United States Air Force Reserve. He has 32 years of criminal, commercial and civil litigation experience. Between 1983 and 1991 he was a prosecutor and defense counsel in the Air Force, including duties as Chief Air Force Prosecutor in Asia-Pacific Region. From 1991 to 1996 he was an associate at Bryan Cave LLP and at SBC Communications. In 1996 he became senior counsel for mergers & acquisitions for SBC Communications closing multiple deals worth several billion dollars in U.S., Europe, and South America as well as negotiating a strategic partnering agreement with a global internet service provider. From 1998 onwards he was general counsel for SBC Communications (1999–2001), Orius Corp. (2001–2004) and MxEnergy Inc. (2005–2007) in domestic and international settings. In July 2007 Brigadier General Hartmann was appointed the legal adviser to the convening authority in the Department of Defense Office of Military Commissions. In September 2008, as a result of the expansion of the commission efforts that General Hartmann had led, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England elevated General Hartmann to become the director of operations, planning, and development for the commissions. Hartmann reported to Susan J. Crawford, a retired judge, who was the convening authority until March 2010.
Sandra Hodgkinson is an American lawyer and officer in the United States Navy Reserve. She currently serves as senior vice president for strategic planning and chief of staff at DRS Technologies and Leonardo North America, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
The Judge Advocate General of the Navy (JAG) is the highest-ranking uniformed lawyer in the United States Department of the Navy. The Judge Advocate General is the principal advisor to the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations on legal matters pertaining to the Navy. The Judge Advocate General also performs other duties prescribed to them under 10 U.S.C. § 5148 and those prescribed under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Ralph Harold Kohlmann is an American lawyer and retired United States Marine Corps officer.
Rebecca S. Snyder is an American appellate defense attorney in Washington DC. She is notable for her work, along with Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, as counsel for Omar Khadr, a detainee at Guantanamo Bay detention camp, charged with murder for the death of an American soldier during a skirmish in Afghanistan on July 27, 2002.
Michael Chapman is an American lawyer, and former senior officer in the United States Army's Judge Advocate General corps, who was appointed the legal adviser to the Office of Military Commissions, in Guantanamo on September 19, 2008. According to the official press release that announced his appointment his previous appointments included being:
William K. Lietzau is an American lawyer, former U.S. Marine Corps Judge Advocate, and the current Director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency.
The Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called judge advocates.
William Buster Pollard III is a judge of the United States Court of Military Commission Review.
John Edward Sparks is an American lawyer who serves as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and former commissioner to the chief judge of the same court.
Rolph, the "Community Champion," was instrumental in motivating and encouraging all of the Trial Judiciary to begin routinely and effectively using the NKO discussion forum.[ dead link ]
That the Appellee's Motion, at the very least, raises a substantial doubt as to the Court's jurisdiction is confirmed by Captain John Rolph's own actions in seeking evidence of the Secretary of Defense's ratification of his appointment from the Department of Defense General Counsel's Office. (See Disclosure Concerning Motion to Abate and Motion to Attach documents, dated 23 July 2007.) This is a threshold jurisdictional matter that must be resolved before the Court takes further filings from the parties or schedules further proceedings in this case.