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The Military Court of Appeals is in fact subordinate to the Federal Court of Appeals. It is not a stand alone system. Federal Circuit courts do have jurisdiction on appellate matters. I am not overly concerned, but I do believe the question should be asked if for no other reason than to protect Sen. Graham. I am fairly certain that at some point he will hear a case and join an opinion that is then appealed... and that process will cause the libDems to raise a firestorm of questions and accusations. I would rather ask and answer these questions on the front end than give the libDems ammunition to be used later. Questions of Ethics and Conflict of Interest should be raised up front, considered, and decided, thus preventing problems down the road.

I am also concerned that public statements made by the Senator and votes he cast may cause him to be ineligible to hear some cases.

For example: a detainee at Gitmo is brought to trial at a military tribunal. His case is appealed to the MCoA. Sen. Graham having cast a vote in favor of the Patriot Act, and having made public statements in support of the war may face conflict issues in being allowed to sit on that case. It may NOT be a problem, but then again it might .... I want 'our guys' to handle these kinds of things on the front end. Do the right thing, ask all the right questions from the start, and leave a public record so that future challenges are mitigated or diffused.

You would not believe how much hate and discontent one can receive when asking questions around here...

BTW... Being that he is in the Air Force Court of Military Appeals, would that not limit him to issues regarding Air Force Personnel .... I think you raise a good point but being that the Air Force is most likely not the service with personnel primarily responsible for such operations, he will be out of the loop on that one.... Now where the potential trouble can occur is that there has been a trend toward reviewing with great scrutiny "friendly fire " deaths like what happened with the Canadian troops last year... So the implications regarding foreign relations, status of forces agreements, violations of no fly zone patrolling policies.... There is a possibility of trouble there... You are correct in recommending vigilance...