UCMJ Article 131b: Obstructing Justice

Obstructing justice is doing any wrongful act, in the case of someone the accused has reason to believe faces criminal or disciplinary proceedings, with intent to influence, impede, or obstruct the due administration of justice. The obstruction does not have to succeed, charges do not have to have been preferred, and nonjudicial punishment counts as a disciplinary proceeding. The maximum is a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and 5 years.

Text and elements of Article 131b

Any person subject to this chapter who engages in conduct in the case of a certain person against whom the accused had reason to believe there were or would be criminal or disciplinary proceedings pending, with intent to influence, impede, or otherwise obstruct the due administration of justice shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

Source: 10 U.S.C. § 931b.

The Manual for Courts-Martial (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 83.b, lists three elements: the accused wrongfully did a certain act; did so in the case of a certain person against whom the accused had reason to believe there were or would be criminal or disciplinary proceedings pending; and did so with intent to influence, impede, or otherwise obstruct the due administration of justice.

Before January 1, 2019, obstruction was an enumerated Article 134 offense requiring proof of prejudice to good order and discipline or service-discrediting conduct. The Military Justice Act of 2016 moved it to Article 131b (Pub. L. 114-328, § 5445; MCM 2024, Appendix 17, analysis of ¶ 83).

Three points from the Manual

Paragraph 83.c answers the questions that decide these cases:

• Timing. The offense “may be based on conduct that occurred before preferral of charges.” The proceedings only have to be ones the accused had reason to believe were or would be pending.
• Success. “Actual obstruction of justice is not an element of this offense.” An attempt to influence a witness that fails is still the offense.
• Which proceedings. Criminal proceedings include general and special courts-martial “and all other criminal proceedings.” Disciplinary proceedings include summary courts-martial and nonjudicial punishment proceedings.

The Manual’s examples

The Manual lists as examples of obstruction:

• wrongfully influencing, intimidating, impeding, or injuring a witness, a person acting on charges under the UCMJ, a preliminary hearing officer, or a party; and
• by bribery, intimidation, misrepresentation, or force or threat of force, delaying or preventing the communication of information about a violation of federal criminal law to a person authorized to investigate or prosecute it;

“or endeavoring to do so.” The specific intent is what separates obstruction from conduct that merely makes an investigation harder: the act must be done to influence, impede, or obstruct the administration of justice.

Article 131b maximum: 5 years

Under ¶ 83.d, the maximum is a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 5 years.

Command influence, perjury, and other interference offenses

The Manual cross-references two related provisions. Interference by an official with the procedures of a case, including unlawful command influence under Article 37, can be prosecuted as noncompliance with procedural rules under Article 131f. Wrongful acts intended to influence or obstruct an adverse administrative proceeding fall under Article 131g.

Lying under oath in a court-martial or Article 32 hearing is perjury under Article 131; procuring someone else’s perjury is Article 131a. Concealing someone else’s serious offense, without an intent to obstruct a case, is misprision under Article 131c.

Sources

• 10 U.S.C. § 931b, Article 131b, Obstructing justice (Cornell LII)
• Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 83; Appendix 17, analysis of ¶ 83

General information about military law, not legal advice for any individual case.