10 U.S.C. § 821
Section 821 · Art. 21. Jurisdiction of courts-martial not exclusive
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 21 court decisions — leading case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006)
Most recently applied in Ali Hamza Ahmad al Bahlul v. United States (July 2023)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The provisions of this chapter conferring jurisdiction upon courts-martial do not deprive military commissions, provost courts, or other military tribunals of concurrent jurisdiction with respect to offenders or offenses that by statute or by the law of war may be tried by military commissions, provost courts, or other military tribunals. This section does not apply to a military commission established under chapter 47A of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
The words “do not deprive” are substituted for the words “shall not be construed as depriving”. The words “with respect to” are substituted for the words “in respect of”.
Amendments
2006—Pub. L. 109–366 inserted last sentence.