The House Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would expand the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, allowing it to review petitions filed by military service members challenging courts-martial decisions.

Under current law, a service member is barred from petitioning the high court if the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) has refused to review his or her court-martial appeal or has denied a writ for extraordinary relief. The only exception is when someone is sentenced to death. In contrast, the government has the right to petition the justices in any case referred to the CAAF.

Committee members, by voice vote last week, sent the full House the Equal Justice for Our Military Act of 2009, sponsored by Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.). The bill is supported by the American Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the District of Columbia Bar Association, the Fleet Reserve Association, the Jewish War Veterans Association, the Military Officers Association of America, and the National Institute for Military Justice.

By way of explaining its unhappiness with the bill, The Congressional Budget Office had estimated that the increased workload of government attorneys and court clerks would cost about $1 million annually. [Shucks that is fully more than triple Obama's salary and 1/10,000 the military budget.] In the last 10 years, petitions filed with CAAF have averaged between 800-900 annually, according to the court’s annual reports. The court has granted review on average to about 144 per year.

The Obama Administration has not yet taken a position on the bill. [Come again, please. Is not Obama the Commander-in=Chief of the military? Thus, the buck stops with him. Every military injustice is an Obama injustice.