Supreme Court overturns top military court, rules that rape cases before 2006 can be prosecuted

(CNN) The Supreme Court ruled 8-0 on Thursday that the military can prosecute at any time sexual assault cases committed between 1986 and 2006, overturning what had been a loophole of a five-year statute of limitations that existed for military sexual assault before 2006.

The case centered on three men in the Air Force whose rape convictions were overturned in 2018 -- including one whose confession the Air Force recorded -- when the top military appeals court affirmed that the five-year statute of limitations existed for military sexual assault before 2006. That decision led to the rape convictions of at least four service members being vacated.

Historically, under military law, any crime must be charged within five years. But in 1986, Congress exempted crimes -- including rape -- that were punishable by the death sentence from the five-year statute of limitations. In 2006, Congress revised the military code again, making clear that rape could be prosecuted "at any time without limitation."

"Respondents' prosecutions for rape under the (Uniform Code of Military Justice) were timely," conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote Thursday.

The ruling marks the first time the justices considered a sexual assault issue in the #MeToo era, wading into a years-long controversy over how the military addresses sexual misconduct in its ranks as service branches continue to face scrutiny over their lack of progress countering the problem.