Case Brief: Reid

Facts:

Mrs. Clarice Covert killed her husband, a sergeant in the United States Air Force base in the U.K. Under an executive agreement (Article 118 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, UCMJ) was in effect between the U.S. and the U.K, the court-martial asserted jurisdiction over Mrs. Covert under Article 2(11) of the UCMJ. Therefore, she was tried by a court-martial for murder without a jury. Then, Mrs. Covert was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

She sought a writ of habeas corpus to set her free on the ground that the Constitution forbade her trial by military authorities.

Issues:

Whether the treaty which was in effect between the U.S. and Great Britain could contrary to the Constitution？

Holdings:

No, reversed and remanded for civilian trial.

Reasonings:

U.S. is entirely creature of Constitution. It can only act in accordance with all the limitations imposed by the Constitution. When the Government reaches out to punish a citizen who is abroad, the rights which are provided by the Bill of Rights and other parts of the Constitution to protect the life and liberty should not be deprived away no matter he happens to be in another land.

Among those provisions, Art. III, §2 and the Fifth and Sixth Amendments manifest that there is no different to provide constitutional protections for individual in domestic or foreign.

All agreements made with a foreign nation are restricted by Constitution to the degree of power they confer on any branch of the government. Article Ⅵ of Constitution declared that all treaties and laws shall comply with Constitution and be responsible for the Bill of Rights. The Court has regularly and uniformly recognized the supremacy of the Constitution over a treaty. The Court also stated that when the statute of Act of Congress which is subsequent in time is inconsistent with a treaty, the statute to the extent of conflict renders the treaty null.

 In this case, the treaty involved was not inconsistent with any specific provision of the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment which reserves to the States or the people all power not delegated to the National Government.

Conclusions:

No, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution supersedes international treaties ratified by the U.S. Senate.