On 13 November 2001, President George W. Bush signed Military Order 222, authorizing the trial of non-U.S. citizens for war crimes by military commission.' Since the signing of that order, a contentious debate has raged over the possible use of military commissions to try suspected terrorists. As part of that debate, the media has used various terms to describe the proposed military commissions. They have called them "Secret Military Trials,"' "Military Tribunals,"' and "U.S. Military Court[s]." A Cable News Network internet story described military commissions as "essentially a courts-martial, or a military trial, during a time of war." This quotation illustrates the underlying misperception that military commissions and courts-martial are the same. They are not.

In fact, substantial differences exist between military commissions and courts-martial. Although both courts have existed since the beginning of the United States, they have existed for different purposes, based on different sources of constitutional authority, and with different jurisdictional boundaries. These differences can affect who may order a trial, who may be tried, what types of cases the court can hear, and the pretrial, trial, and appellate procedures applied in a particular case.

This article examines two of the major distinctions between military commissions and courts-martial: the constitutional authority to create each court and their respective jurisdictional limitations. Due to the complicated constitutional and jurisdictional issues presented by military commissions, as compared to the relatively straightforward courts-martial, this article is devoted primarily to discussing this generally misunderstood court.