Cite as: 520 U. S. 651 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
Criminal Appeals may be commissioned officers or civilians, each of whom must be a member of a bar of a Federal court or of the highest court of a State. The Judge Advocate General shall designate as chief judge one of the appellate military judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals established by him. The chief judge shall determine on which panels of the court the appellate judges assigned to the court will serve and which military judge assigned to the court will act as senior judge on each panel."
Were we to accept petitioners' interpretation of Article 66(a) as providing for the "appointment" of Court of Criminal Appeals judges, their argument that Congress intended it to be the exclusive means of appointment might prove persuasive. Ordinarily, where a specific provision conflicts with a general one, the specific governs. Busic v. United States, 446 U. S. 398, 406 (1980). Conspicuously absent from Article 66(a), however, is any mention of the "appointment" of military judges. Instead, the statute refers to judges "who are assigned to a Court of Criminal Appeals" (emphasis added). The difference between the power to "assign" officers to a particular task and the power to "appoint" those officers is not merely stylistic. In Weiss, we upheld the assignment of military officers to serve on military courts because they had previously been "appointed" as officers of the United States pursuant to the Appointments Clause, and because Congress had not designated the position of a military judge as one requiring reappointment. 510 U. S., at 176. We noted in Weiss that Congress has consistently used the word "appoint" with respect to military positions requiring a separate appointment, rather than using terms not found within the Appointments Clause, such as "assign": "Congress repeatedly and consistently distinguished between an office that would require a separate appointment and a position or duty to which one could be 'assigned' or 'detailed' by a superior
657
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007