Opinion ID: 2570
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: DISCUSSION a) Justiciability and Intramilitary Immunity

Text: We first address the threshold question of whether the doctrine of intramilitary immunity bars us from reviewing the Board's decision to reject Dibble's application for relief. The doctrine of intramilitary immunity emerged from the Supreme Court's holding, in Feres v. United States, 340 U.S. 135, 71 S.Ct. 153, 95 L.Ed. 152 (1950), that the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) does not permit military personnel to sue the United States government for compensation for injuries that arise out of or are in the course of activity incident to service, even if those injuries would be otherwise actionable under the FTCA. Id. at 146, 71 S.Ct. 153. The Court's reasoning in Feres was confined to the FTCA, but, as we noted in Overton v. New York State Division of Military & Naval Affairs, 373 F.3d 83 (2d Cir.2004), subsequent judicial decisions have significantly expanded the intramilitary immunity doctrine and it now generally protects the government from suit for injuries arising from `activit[ies] incident to [military] service.' Id. at 89 (quoting United States v. Stanley, 483 U.S. 669, 681, 107 S.Ct. 3054, 97 L.Ed.2d 550 (1987)); see also Chappell v. Wallace, 462 U.S. 296, 103 S.Ct. 2362, 76 L.Ed.2d 586 (1983) (holding that enlisted servicemembers could not bring Bivens -style suits seeking damages from their superior officers for alleged constitutional violations); Jones v. N.Y. State Div. of Military & Naval Affairs, 166 F.3d 45, 50-52 (2d Cir.1999) (holding the intramilitary immunity applies to suits for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983). In Dibble I, we held that the doctrine is not limited to actions for damages but applies also to some claims for equitable relief. Dibble I, 339 F.3d at 127-28. We thus ordered dismissal of Dibble's suit against his military commander. Id. at 128. However, we also noted that the doctrine's scope is not precisely defined, id. at 125, and we decline[d] to adopt a categorical rule on the justiciability of intramilitary suits. Id. at 128. The question here is whether the doctrine applies also to suits for review of decisions of civilian review boards with respect to military personnel decisions. Arguably it might. The doctrine appears to be both an application of justiciability concerns and a canon of construction that limits the reach of statutes of general applicability into military affairs when Congress has not explicitly provided for application to the military. Cf. Stanley, 483 U.S. at 683, 107 S.Ct. 3054 (The special factor that counsels hesitation [before allowing Bivens actions for injuries incident to military service] is . . . the fact that congressionally uninvited intrusion into military affairs by the judiciary is inappropriate.) (internal brackets and quotation marks omitted). The APA contains no explicit provision for review of agency decisions involving military affairs. However, we are bound by ample precedent that the intramilitary immunity doctrine does not universally bar judicial review of decisions by Boards for the Correction of Military Records. In Falk v. Secretary of the Army, 870 F.2d 941 (2d Cir.1989), we reviewed an Army Board for the Correction of Military Records decision not to alter the officially stated reason for a reservist's discharge. In Blassingame v. Secretary of the Navy, 866 F.2d 556 (2d Cir.1989), we reversed dismissal of a former Marine's claim against the Board for the Correction of Naval Records concerning a petition to upgrade his military discharge from undesirable to honorable. See also Kreis v. Sec'y of the Air Force, 866 F.2d 1508, 1511-12 (D.C.Cir.1989) (although a claim for retroactive promotion was a non-justiciable military personnel decision, alternative claims for the correction of military records were justiciable); Watson v. Ark. Nat'l Guard, 886 F.2d 1004, 1008 n. 10 (8th Cir.1989) (action taken by the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records was reviewable under the arbitrary and capricious standard); Neal v. Sec'y of the Navy, 639 F.2d 1029, 1037 (3d Cir.1981)(decisions of boards for the correction of military records can be reviewed judicially for arbitrariness and capriciousness). This caselaw takes note of the facts that the Board is made up of civilians and that it is authorized, with minor exceptions, only to correct military records. 10 U.S.C. § 1552(a)(1); 32 C.F.R. §§ 865.1, 865.2(a). [5] Thus, it has limited power and interferes only minimally with the cohesiveness and efficiency of existing military hierarchies and operations. Moreover, courts do not review the Board's decisions de novo, but only under the deferential standard of whether the decisions were arbitrary, capricious, or unsupported by substantial evidence. Chappell, 462 U.S. at 303, 103 S.Ct. 2362. The Secretary suggests that [i]t was arguably beyond even the broad authority of the Board to undertake such a particularized review of the New York Air National Guard's decisions involved in denying Dibble reenlistment. The Secretary also argues that the Board's detailed analysis of the facts of this dispute, conducted pursuant to the district court's instructions on remand, in essence required that the Board inquire into `the mindset of [Dibble's] superior officers,' and . . . determine whether their actions `were motivated by the unconstitutional desire to stifle Dibble's protected First Amendment activity'  precisely the inquiry this Court later found to be non-justiciable by federal courts in Dibble I.  The Board's statutory authority to correct military records includes injustice[s] as well as clerical errors. While the inquiry ordered by the district court may be near the edge of the Board's authority, it did not exceed that authority as recognized in the caselaw discussed earlier. See, e.g., Blassingame, 866 F.2d at 559-60. At this stage of the proceeding, Dibble does not seek reinstatement, and, given the facts that the Board denied relief and we leave that denial in place, there is no reason for us to explore further the scope of the Board's authority.