Opinion ID: 371794
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: relief sought

Text: 5 Before turning to the parties' arguments, we will focus briefly on issues Jones is not raising, because they distinguish Jones from other cases on relook boards. Jones does not contest the 1976 board's consideration. Cf. Dilley v. Alexander, 195 U.S.App.D.C. 332, 342, 603 F.2d 914, 924 (1979) (reversal when 1976 board considered record erroneously including defective 1975 pass over). Jones does not question the relook board's consideration of only those officers in the primary zone. See Dilley v. Alexander, 195 U.S.App.D.C. at 342 - 43, 603 F.2d at 924-25; Doyle v. United States, 599 F.2d 984 (Ct.Cl.1979). As noted above, Jones is not requesting money damages. 3 6 Jones wishes the court to declare that the 1975 board's actions were void Ab initio, to order that the Army alter Jones's records to remove all indication of the 1975 pass over, and to order that the Army reinstate him 4 as if he had not been passed over in 1975.IV. ARGUMENTS 7 The litigants' arguments center on whether the 1975 board and the relook board are selection boards for pass over purposes. Jones claims the 1975 board was void Ab initio because no reserve officers sat on the board. He claims this procedural error is irremediable, and that the Secretary's only choice is to allow all applicants not selected by the 1975 board to continue on active duty until passed over by two other successive selection boards. Jones claims the relook board would have to be a selection board for there to be a pass over within the meaning of the two-pass over rule of the selection out regulation. He argues that the relook board lacks the indicia of a selection board under the regulations, and even if it were a selection board, these boards cannot meet within nine months of each other. Army Reg. 624-100, P 36; 635-100, P 3-65. Therefore, according to Jones, if the relook board is considered a selection board, it is also void because it met in June, only four months after the regular February, 1976, selection board. 8 The Secretary first asserts that the 1975 board is not totally invalid, that use of relook boards is a proper remedy, and that the nine-month regulation is inapplicable because the relook board, in effect, turned the clock back to 1975. Although the Army admits that the composition of the original 1975 board was improper, it argues that the Secretary has broad remedial powers and properly cured the error here by convening the relook board. The Army also argues by analogy to Mount Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977), that even if the 1975 and relook boards were improperly convened, Jones has the burden of showing that but for the compositional error, he would have been promoted. Even if Jones did meet this burden, the Secretary argues he proved the error was harmless, because when the properly constructed relook board reviewed Jones's record, it also found Jones was not among the best qualified for promotion.