10 U.S.C. § 943 : US Code - Section 943: Art. 143. Organization and employees

Search 10 U.S.C. § 943 : US Code - Section 943: Art. 143. Organization and employees

(a) Chief Judge. - (1) The chief judge of the United States Court
of Appeals for the Armed Forces shall be the judge of the court in
regular active service who is senior in commission among the judges
of the court who -
(A) have served for one or more years as judges of the court;
and
(B) have not previously served as chief judge.
(2) In any case in which there is no judge of the court in
regular active service who has served as a judge of the court for
at least one year, the judge of the court in regular active service
who is senior in commission and has not served previously as chief
judge shall act as the chief judge.
(3) Except as provided in paragraph (4), a judge of the court
shall serve as the chief judge under paragraph (1) for a term of
five years. If no other judge is eligible under paragraph (1) to
serve as chief judge upon the expiration of that term, the chief
judge shall continue to serve as chief judge until another judge
becomes eligible under that paragraph to serve as chief judge.
(4)(A) The term of a chief judge shall be terminated before the
end of five years if -
(i) the chief judge leaves regular active service as a judge of
the court; or
(ii) the chief judge notifies the other judges of the court in
writing that such judge desires to be relieved of his duties as
chief judge.
(B) The effective date of a termination of the term under
subparagraph (A) shall be the date on which the chief judge leaves
regular active service or the date of the notification under
subparagraph (A)(ii), as the case may be.
(5) If a chief judge is temporarily unable to perform his duties
as a chief judge, the duties shall be performed by the judge of the
court in active service who is present, able and qualified to act,
and is next in precedence.
(b) Precedence of Judges. - The chief judge of the court shall
have precedence and preside at any session that he attends. The
other judges shall have precedence and preside according to the
seniority of their original commissions. Judges whose commissions
bear the same date shall have precedence according to seniority in
age.
(c) Status of Certain Positions. - (1) Attorney positions of
employment under the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces are
excepted from the competitive service. A position of employment
under the court that is provided primarily for the service of one
judge of the court, reports directly to the judge, and is a
position of a confidential character is excepted from the
competitive service. Appointments to positions referred to in the
preceding sentences shall be made by the court, without the
concurrence of any other officer or employee of the executive
branch, in the same manner as appointments are made to other
executive branch positions of a confidential or policy-determining
character for which it is not practicable to examine or to hold a
competitive examination. Such positions shall not be counted as
positions of that character for purposes of any limitation on the
number of positions of that character provided in law.
(2) In making appointments to the positions described in
paragraph (1), preference shall be given, among equally qualified
persons, to persons who are preference eligibles (as defined in
section 2108(3) of title 5).