Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/406/953/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 06:51:10+00:00

Document:
Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 406 › MCGARVA v. U. S.
On the representation of the Solicitor General set forth in his memorandum for the United States, filed April 26, 1972, the judgment is vacated and the case is remanded to the Court of Appeals for reconsideration in light of the position presently asserted by the Government.
Mr. Justice DOUGLAS, whom Mr. Justice BRENNAN joins.
'in accordance with statutory plan and the concepts of basic fairness which underlie all our legislation . . . the Department must furnish the registrant with a fair r esum e of the FBI report.' Simmons v. United States, 348 U.S. 397, 405.
'the over-all procedures set up in the statute and regulations, designed to be fair and just in their operation, 62 Stat. 605, 50 U.S. C. App. 451(c) require that the registrant receive a copy of the Justice Department recommendation and be given a reasonable opportunity to file a reply thereto.' Gonzales v. United States, 348 U.S. 407, 417.
In 1967, the provisions relating to Justice Department hearings and recommendations were deleted from the Act. The statutory mandate of 451( c), however, remains unchanged. And, '[v]iewed against our underlying concepts of procedural regularity and basic fair play,' Gonzales, supra, the appellate procedures employed in this case cannot stand. 'It is procedure that marks the difference between rule by law and rule by fiat.' Wisconsin v. Constantineau, 400 U.S. 433, 436.
The use of adverse information not disclosed to the registrant is exactly analogous to the FBI report summary not disclosed to the registrant in Simmons, and the Justice Department recommendation kept from the registrant in Gonzales. The failure to disclose the use of such material vitiates petitioner's statutory right of appeal. For no appeal procedure can be 'fair' where only one side has had an opportunity to present its case.
Unless we are to overrule these cases, which have found uniform acceptance by the lower courts (see, e. g., United States v. Thompson, 3 Cir., 431 F.2d 1265, 1271; United States v. Cabbage, 6 Cir., 430 F.2d 1037, 1039-1041; United States v. Cummins, 8 Cir., 425 F.2d 646; United States v. Owen, 8 Cir., 415 F.2d 383, 388-389), we must accept the Solicitor General's confession of error and reverse the judgment below.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.