866. ARTICLE 66. Review by Court of Military Review

(a) Each Judge Advocate General shall establish a Court of Military Review which shall be composed of one or more panels, and each such panel shall be composed of not less than three appellate military judges. For the purpose of reviewing court- martial cases, the court may sit in panels or as a whole in accordance with rules prescribed under subsection (f). Any decision of a panel bay be reconsidered by the court sitting as a whole in accordance with such rules. Appellate military judges who are assigned to a Court of Military Review may be commissioned officers or civilians, each of whom must be a member of a bar of a Federal court or the highest court of a State. The Judge Advocate General shall designate as trial counsel that appeal is not taken for the purpose of delay and (if the order or ruling appealed is one which excludes evidence) that the evidence is substantial proof of a fact material in the proceeding.

(1) An appeal under this section shall be diligently prosecuted by appellate Government counsel.

(b) An appeal under this section shall be forwarded by a means prescribed under regulations of the President directly to the Court of Military Review and shall, whenever practicable, have priority over all other proceedings before that court. In ruling on an appeal under this section, the Court of Military Review may act only with respect to matters of law, notwithstanding section 666(c) of this title (article 66(c)). (c) Any period of delay resulting from an appeal under this section shall be excluded in deciding any issue regarding denial of a speedy trial unless an appropriate authority determines that the appeal was filed solely for the purposed of delay with the knowledge that it was totally frivolous and without merit.