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Page Number: 6.0

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TORRES v. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY 

Opinion of the Court 

I 
A 

Congress has “broad and sweeping” power “to raise and 
support armies.”  United States v. O’Brien, 391 U. S. 367, 
377 (1968).  It has long exercised that power to encourage 
service in the Armed Forces in a variety of ways.  See, e.g., 
Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, 
Inc., 547 U. S. 47, 58 (2006) (campus recruiting); Johnson 
v. Robison, 415 U. S. 361, 376 (1974) (educational benefits). 
Since  before  the  United  States’  entry  into  World  War  II,
Congress  has  sought,  in  particular,  to  smooth  volunteers’ 
reentry into civilian life by recognizing veterans’ “right to 
return to civilian employment without adverse effect on . . . 
career progress” in the federal work force and private em-
ployment.  H. R. Rep. No. 105–448, p. 2 (1998); see Selective
Training and Service Act of 1940, §§8(b)(A)–(B), (e), 54 Stat.
890, 891 (damages remedy against private employers). 

The  Vietnam  War  prompted  Congress  to  extend  these
protections to employment by States.  Amidst political op-
position  to  the  war,  “some  State  and  local  jurisdictions 
ha[d ]  demonstrated  a  reluctance,  and  even  an  unwilling-
ness,  to  reemploy”  returning  servicemembers.    S.  Rep.
No. 93–907, p. 110 (1974).  So Congress authorized private
damages suits against States to ensure that “veterans who
[had]  previously  held  jobs  as  school  teachers,  policemen,
firemen, and other State, county, and city employees” would 
not  be  denied  their  old  jobs  as  reprisal  for  their  service. 
Ibid.  The statute at issue, USERRA, embodies these pro-
tections today. 

B 

Petitioner Le Roy Torres enlisted in the Army Reserves 
in 1989.  In 2007, he was called to active duty and deployed 
to  Iraq.  While  serving,  Torres  was  exposed  to  toxic  burn 
pits, a method of garbage disposal that sets open fire to all 
manner of trash, human waste, and military equipment.