Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/329/338/case.html
Timestamp: 2017-05-29 17:14:40
Document Index: 669379320

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 11', '§ 11', '§ 311', '§ 5', '§ 304', '§ 5', '§ 5', '§ 653', '§ 653', '§ 652', '§ 11']

Gibson v. United States (full text) :: 329 U.S. 338 (1946) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center Log In
Gibson v. United States 329 U.S. 338 (1946)
U.S. Supreme CourtGibson v. United States, 329 U.S. 338 (1946)Gibson v. United StatesNo. 23Argued January 2, 3, 1946Reargued October 23, 1946Decided December 23, 1946*329 U.S. 338CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
(a) Falbo v. United States, 320 U. S. 549, distinguished on the ground that, under the regulations governing Falbo, he might have been rejected upon a physical examination after reporting to camp. Pp. 329 U. S. 343-350. Page 329 U. S. 339
No. 86. Petitioner was convicted for violating § 11 of the Selective Training and Service Act by failing to report to camp. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. 154 F.2d 637. This Court granted certiorari. 328 U.S. 828. Reversed, p. 329 U. S. 362. Page 329 U. S. 340
These cases carry forward another step the sequence in decision represented by Falbo, Billings, Estep, and Smith. [Footnote 1] Each petitioner has been convicted for violating § 11 of the Selective Training and Service Act, 54 Stat. 894, 50 U.S.C. App. § 311, Dodez for failing to report for work of national importance after being ordered to do so, and Gibson for having unlawfully deserted the camp to which he had been assigned for such work. [Footnote 2] Page 329 U. S. 341
Both petitioners are Jehovah's Witnesses. Each has claimed consistently since the time of his registration that he is a minister of religion, and therefore exempt from Page 329 U. S. 342 training and service under the Act. [Footnote 5] Each was denied this classification (IV-D), being classified instead as a conscientious objector (IV-E). [Footnote 6] Administrative appeals were exhausted. Pursuant to the classifications given and the applicable statutory provisions and regulations, Dodez and Gibson were assigned to work of national importance and ordered to report for such work at designated camps.
Obviously the petitioners have sought to reach the same point -- namely, the place at which the selective process is exhausted administratively -- but have differed concerning its exact location. Dodez maintains that the point was reached, under the applicable regulations, [Footnote 7] when his pre-induction physical examination had been given and he was found acceptable for service by the Selective Service Page 329 U. S. 343 system. This was on February 21, 1944, two months prior to the date (April 21, 1944) when he was ordered to report for work and refused to go.
"Completion of the functions of the local boards and appellate agencies, important as are these functions, is not the end of the selective service process. The selectee may still be rejected at the induction center, and the conscientious objector who is opposed to noncombatant duty may be rejected at the civilian public service camp. The connected series of steps into the national service which begins with registration with the local board does not end until the registrant is accepted by the army, navy, or civilian public service camp. Thus, a board order to report is no more than a necessary intermediate step in a united and continuous process designed to Page 329 U. S. 344 raise an army speedily and efficiently."
It is not necessary to review in detail the regulations which were governing in Falbo's case, since they are Page 329 U. S. 345 not controlling in either of the present ones. Although it is now argued that the Court misconceived their effect, [Footnote 10] we need only to note that it was within the registrant's power to secure a physical examination by the camp physician by indicating a change in his physical condition, it could not be known in advance in any case whether he would demand it, and, until this was determined, it could not be known finally and irrevocably whether he would be "accepted for work of national importance." [Footnote 11] The decision, therefore, correctly ruled that "the conscientious objector who is opposed to noncombatant duty may be rejected at the civilian public service camp," and that the board's order to report there for service was "no more than a necessary intermediate step" in the continuous selective process, which was not ended until the last possibility for rejection had been exhausted. Under those regulations, there was no final and conclusive acceptance for service until after those procedures at the camp were completed.
It was exactly in this respect, however, that the changes made in the regulations immediately after the Falbo decision [Footnote 12] and shortly prior to issuance of Dodez' order to Page 329 U. S. 346 report, together with still others made later, but prior to the order to Gibson, were effective. The changes were extensive, and important. The altered regulations are lengthy. We therefore give a summary in the margin, noting the more important differences between those applicable to Dodez and those in effect as to Gibson. [Footnote 13]
It is of some importance to note that the changes affecting both registrants were made in consequence of the enactment of § 5 of Public Law 197, 78th Congress, approved December 5, 1943, 57 Stat. 596, 599, 50 U.S.C.Appendix, § 304a. This required pre-induction physical examinations to be given before the registrant was ordered to Page 329 U. S. 347 report for induction and service. [Footnote 14] Previously, he first had been ordered to report for induction, was then given his pre-induction examination by the armed forces, and, on being found acceptable, was inducted at once. [Footnote 15] The major changes in the regulations giving effect to § 5 were made on January 10, 1944, one week after the Falbo decision came down, some taking effect on that date, [Footnote 16] others on February 2d following. These applied to Dodez. Still others, not applicable to him but operative as to Gibson, took effect on June 7, 1944. [Footnote 17]
The changed regulations, following out the command of § 5 of Public Act 197, provided for a pre-induction physical examination to be given before issuance of the order to report for induction, rather than afterward. Section 629.1 of Amendment No. 200(9 F.R. 400-442), effective January 10, 1944. [Footnote 18] This was the basic amendment. It applied to all registrants subject to call for service, including Page 329 U. S. 348 those classified IV-E. Moreover, by Amendment No. 210(9 F.R. 1416), effective February 2, 1944, § 653.11 of the Regulations applicable to men so classified was changed to eliminate the previously effective paragraph (c) providing for physical examination by the camp physician on indication of changed condition and consequent possible rejection at the camp. Instead, the amended regulation stated simply that (a) when the "assignee" had reported to the camp, the camp director should "complete the Order to Report for Work of National Importance (Form 50);" and (b) place, as specified, on the assignee's papers, "a statement that the registrant is accepted" for work at the designated camp, stating also the date and place of acceptance; (c) the local board, "upon receiving notice that a registrant has been accepted for work," should not "change his classification, but shall note the fact of his acceptance" on Form 100, and (d), if the assignee failed to report when required, the camp director was to notify the Director of Selective Service. [Footnote 19] (Emphasis added.) Page 329 U. S. 349
Although the amended regulations thus speak of "completing the Order to Report" and placing on his papers "a statement that a registrant is accepted," we agree that these were only formal matters to be performed by camp officials, and left nothing to be done by them or by the applicant after reaching the camp which might result in his being rejected or released from the duty to remain and perform the further duties imposed on him. To construe Page 329 U. S. 350 the regulations otherwise would be to force the registrant not only to perform all requirements affording possibility of relief, but also to go through with purely formal steps to be taken by camp officials offering no such possibility. Exacting this would stretch the requirement of exhausting the administrative process beyond any reason supporting it. Cf. Levers v. Anderson, 326 U. S. 219. And, as appears from Gibson's experience, by going through with those formalities, Dodez would have found himself confronted with the Government's contention that he had gone too far.
This view requires reversal of the judgment in No. 86 and remanding the cause to the District Court for a further trial. Dodez insists, however that we should go further and determine the case finally upon the merits. He urges that the evidence properly tendered and admissible upon the excluded defenses, as well as that adduced, [Footnote 20] would support no other verdict than one of acquittal, and that therefore the trial court should have sustained his motion to dismiss the cause. [Footnote 21] Accordingly, Page 329 U. S. 351 he asks for a judgment here directing that such relief be given.
The government urges that the conclusion we have accepted for Dodez forces the contrary result in Gibson's case, No. 23. The argument, as we have pointed out, is Page 329 U. S. 352 not that Gibson fell short of exhausting the administrative process, for he clearly had done this. It is, rather, that he went beyond what was required for that purpose, thereby became subject to the camp's jurisdiction, and, in doing this, irrevocably foreclosed himself from defending against the charge of desertion on the ground that his classification was invalid.
Applying the analog , the Government insists that, when Gibson went to the camp and there went through the preliminary formalities for becoming a member, he became "inducted" as a camp member, just as one becomes a member of the armed forces by undergoing the induction ceremony, cf. Billings v. Truesdell, supra, even though the induction is in violation of his rights. Thereafter, the argument continues, Gibson became subject to the camp's "jurisdiction," just as the wrongfully inducted soldier would become subject to military jurisdiction, and, like the latter, cannot raise the illegality of his induction as a defense to a charge of violating any duty imposed upon inducted members, but must seek his relief, if any, by the Page 329 U. S. 353 writ of habeas corpus. Since the Act and the regulations laid upon camp members a duty to remain and perform the further duties prescribed for them, [Footnote 25] Gibson's departure without leave amounted to desertion; his defense of wrongful classification is no more open to him than a defense of illegal induction would be open to a wrongfully inducted soldier violating a military order, and his remedy, if any, is to apply for release from the camp through habeas corpus.
The argument is supported by extensive reference to the regulations in force when Gibson was ordered to report, including the changes affecting Dodez and the others which became effective June 7, 1944, by Amendment No. 236 (9 F.R. 6207). The important changes this amendment made were two, namely: (1) to reintroduce into § 653.11, the provision applicable in Falbo's case but eliminated as to Dodez by Amendment No. 210, effective February 2, 1944, [Footnote 26] for medical examinations to be given at the camp to determine change in condition, and (2) to add to the preexisting requirement for the camp director's noting the fact of acceptance on the registrant's papers [Footnote 27] the explicit new provision that this should be done "irrespective of the determination which is made as a result of the examination." [Footnote 28] Page 329 U. S. 354
(Emphasis added.) Page 329 U. S. 355
Much of the argument was devoted to whether, on the basis of the Government's analogy, § 652.13 could be Page 329 U. S. 356 taken to fix the end of the "interval of choice," cf. Billings v. Truesdell, supra, in view of the constantly changing character of the regulations, the absence of any prescribed induction ceremony such as the Billings case involved, and the consequent difficulty confronting one seeking to comply with the Falbo decision in ascertaining the exact location of such a line. [Footnote 31] We do not find it necessary to consider the conflicting contentions in this respect, or therefore to scrutinize the regulations with a view to locating such a point. More fundamental considerations are controlling.
We have said that the Government's argument is founded entirely upon analogy, because no case has ruled that one who becomes subject to the "jurisdiction" of a work camp under the Selective Service procedure thereby forfeits his right to defend against a charge of desertion or other breach of duty, on the ground that his classification was invalid. Nor has it been held that his only recourse for release from the camp is by way of habeas corpus. Furthermore, we think there are compelling reasons why the analogy does not hold true. Page 329 U. S. 357
There is therefore no such profound change in rights, duties, and status as occurs when one crosses the line between civil and military jurisdiction by being "actually inducted" under the rule of Billings v. Truesdell, supra. It was this change and the consequences it entailed, together with the statute's command that no one should be tried by military or naval court martial in any case arising under the Act until he had been actually inducted, [Footnote 33] which Page 329 U. S. 358 we there held to require placing the line precisely, not only for exhausting administrative remedies under the Falbo rule, but also for marking the point of actual induction at which the registrant's right ends to choose between going forward into the service and incurring the civil liability for breach of that duty.
Moreover, in the case of one entering the armed forces, the loss of civil rights, including those of recourse to the civil courts other than by way of habeas corpus, [Footnote 34] results altogether by virtue of the change from civilian to military status. The reasons underlying those rulings do not apply in the case of one who does not undergo that change, remains at all times a civilian, subject only to civilian duties and to civil penalties for violating them. There is not the Page 329 U. S. 359 same necessity or compulsion in such a case for bringing about forfeiture of civilian rights, including remedies for questioning the validity of the order the registrant is charged with violating. That compulsion arises from the necessity for preventing interruption of military processes by intrusion of the civil courts beyond the essential minimum of keeping open the habeas corpus channel to show that the military authority has exceeded its jurisdiction in dealing with the individual. [Footnote 35] It is on this foundation that the forfeiture of other civil remedies is held to take place.
But, here again, the asserted analogy fails. It has been clearly established that the remedy by way of habeas corpus is open to the wrongfully inducted member of the Page 329 U. S. 360 armed forces to secure his release. [Footnote 36] But, at the argument, it was conceded that neither the camp director nor other officials of the Selective Service system are authorized to use force to arrest or restrain one who refuses to remain in the camp. And this, it was also admitted, would make doubtful the availability of relief by way of habeas corpus. [Footnote 37] Indeed, it might well be urged that the remedy is not available for one charged with violation of any duty, whether failure to report to the camp, to remain there, or to perform other obligations, since the only compulsion laid upon such a person by the Act or otherwise is the force of the legal command plus the provision for criminal penalty in case of disobedience.
Finally, Congress has provided expressly for enforcing the duty to report to the camp for work and duties arising thereafter through the criminal proceedings and penalties Page 329 U. S. 361 prescribed by § 11. In its view, these were adequate for the purpose. Nothing in the section or the statute, in the light of our prior decisions, can be taken to indicate that Congress intended persons charged with violating such duties to be deprived of their rights of defense on the ground of invalid classification, either absolutely, should habeas corpus prove unavailable, or contingently, depending upon how the doubt concerning that remedy's availability might be resolved. The Government concedes that Congress intended some remedy to be available. We know of no way by which this can be assured, in such a case as Gibson's, otherwise than by permitting the defense to be raised in the criminal trial.
We express no opinion concerning whether a different result might follow for one in Gibson's position if he should Page 329 U. S. 362 remain at the camp for a substantially longer period and then depart without leave. [Footnote 39]