Quick Overview
- General and special courts martial records are public.
- Federal civilian and court martial expungement run through specialized channels rather than a standard process.
- The military publishes court martial results in several ways: For more information, visit the JAG .
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Are Court Martial Records Public?
General and special courts martial records are public. The military publishes court martial results in several ways: For more information, visit the JAG.
- Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps announcements: Services publish summaries of courts martial results in official announcements that are publicly accessible
- Army Court of Criminal Appeals (ACCA), Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals (NMCCA): Appellate decisions in court martial cases are published and indexed by legal databases including CourtListener
- FOIA requests: Court martial records can be obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests to the relevant military branch
- Summary courts martial: Less formal, records may be less publicly accessible
How Court Martial Records Appear Online
- Military appellate court decisions on CourtListener and Justia (for cases that were appealed)
- Service-specific court martial announcement databases
- News coverage of high-profile military cases
- Data broker sites that aggregate public record data including military justice records
Can Court Martial Convictions Be Expunged?
Federal civilian and court martial expungement run through specialized channels rather than a standard process. The military does not have a standard expungement process comparable to state civilian courts. Options that exist: For more information, visit the National Archives military records.
- Discharge upgrade: The military's Discharge Review Boards (DRB) and Board for Correction of Military Records (BCMR) can upgrade discharges from Dishonorable/Other Than Honorable - though this does not expunge the court martial conviction itself
- Presidential pardon: The President has pardon power over military convictions
- Set aside by the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF): Successful appeal can overturn a conviction
- Online removal without expungement: Data broker opt-outs and aggregator site requests may reduce online visibility even without legal expungement
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Frequently Asked Questions
General and special courts martial records are public record. The military publishes results of courts martial in service announcements. Appellate court martial decisions (from ACCA, NMCCA, AFCCA, CGCCA, and CAAF) are published and indexed by legal databases including CourtListener. Court martial records can also be obtained through FOIA requests to the relevant military branch. Summary courts martial have more limited public accessibility.
Military court martial convictions do not have a standard expungement process comparable to civilian state courts. The military Boards for Correction of Military Records (BCMRs) can sometimes remove or correct records, and discharge upgrade boards can change the characterization of discharge - but these do not expunge court martial convictions the way state expungement would. Presidential pardon is another avenue. Successful appeal through the military appellate system remains the primary mechanism for overturning a court martial conviction.
Yes. A court martial conviction - particularly a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge - will appear in comprehensive background checks. The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the Interstate Identification Index (III) include military convictions. Background check services that access these federal databases will report court martial convictions. The discharge characterization (honorable, general, other than honorable, bad conduct, dishonorable) is also visible through military service verification.
Yes. Veterans with less-than-honorable discharges can apply to the Discharge Review Board (DRB) of their branch within 15 years of discharge, or to the Board for Correction of Military Records (BCMR) at any time. Grounds for upgrade include errors in the discharge process, changes in policy (such as those related to sexual orientation or mental health conditions), and demonstrations of rehabilitation and post-service contribution. Discharge upgrade changes the characterization but does not expunge the underlying court martial.
Yes, in several ways. Military courts (courts martial) operate under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), not civilian state or federal law. The appeals process goes through military appellate courts (ACCA, NMCCA, etc.) to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF). Civilian expungement laws do not apply to military convictions - military convictions can only be addressed through military administrative processes or presidential pardon. However, the online visibility of court martial records (through CourtListener, military announcements, and data broker sites) can be addressed through the same removal strategies used for civilian records.
While civilian expungement does not apply to a court martial conviction, you can often reduce its visibility in Google. This includes: requesting removal from data broker and background check aggregator sites that republish the record, submitting Google de-indexing requests for specific URLs where the record appears, and building a strong professional digital presence that suppresses the record in search results. The underlying legal record is a separate matter, and its search visibility can often be reduced.
Court martial records are maintained by the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps of each military branch. The National Archives also maintains older military justice records. Records from appellate proceedings are published by the service Courts of Criminal Appeals and the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF), and are indexed by civilian legal databases like CourtListener and Justia.
A dishonorable discharge, which can only result from a general court martial conviction, has significant civilian consequences. It can bar veterans from federal employment, firearms ownership, VA benefits, and many professional licenses. Background checks will show both the court martial conviction and the discharge characterization. Addressing the online visibility of the record - through removal requests and suppression - can reduce the practical impact while discharge upgrade proceedings are pursued.
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