The New York Times reports that the President’s comments made two months ago that those who commit sexual assault in the military should be “prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged,” have been used by defense counsel in more than a dozen pending cases to seek dismissal of charges because they allegedly constitute an “unlawful command influence.”

The Times says that this term “refers to actions of commanders that could be interpreted by jurors as an attempt to influence a court-martial, in effect ordering a specific outcome.”  The effect of the President’s press conference comments has been a slew of motions to dismiss made by defense counsel — “Because the president is the commander in chief, it’s going to come up in basically every imaginable context in sexual assault cases” remarked a Yale Law professor.

Although the Times reports that the White House contends that the President only “meant to demonstrate his concern about the issue and … [and did] not intend[] to recommend penalties for offenders,” nonetheless as the article details, his comments have roiled the waters for military prosecutors.

Read this article to get a good picture of both sides of this issue.