January 11, 2023
In S.S. v. United States, a survivor petitioned the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari to overturn a ruling of the military’s highest appellate court. The military court ruled that S.S.’s mental health diagnosis and treatment were not protected from disclosure to her rapist by M.R.E 513 mental health privilege. This opinion threatens to erode the protections of the mental health privilege subjecting survivors to abusive invasions of their privacy and further dissuading victims from reporting their offenders. POD filed an amicus brief supporting the petition, focusing on the importance of the privilege and how the military court’s ruling is new obstacle in the battle to end sexual violence in the military.