Court Opinion

ID: 9459224
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:13:52.269486+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:04.343777
License: Public Domain

DUNIWAY, Circuit Judge:
I dissent. Had Adkins’ board ordered him to report for induction at its April 19 meeting, I would be inclined to agree with the result reached by the majority. However, it did not do so. I would hold that in this case the board failed to comply with the mandate of 32 C.F.R. § 1631.6(d) (5) to issue an induction order “as soon as practicable” after April 1.
Although the majority is correct in stating that Adkins’ file, the only evidence introduced at his trial, is silent regarding a March meeting of his board, the Government has conceded on this appeal that the board met on March 15, one full day after the time within which Adkins was to complete the Form 150 *384had expired.1 However, no action was taken at that meeting, despite the fact that the board could have issued an induction order to Adkins. Rather, it waited until April 19, reopened his classification sum, sponte, and retained him in I-A.
No explanation has been offered for this action. The only possible authority for the April 19 reopening is 32 C.F.R. § 1652.2, which provides that a local board “may” reopen on its own motion “if such action is based upon facts not considered when the registrant was classified which, if true, would justify a change in the registrant’s classification. .” The only additional “fact” in Adkins’ file was that over two months before, he had requested a Form 150, which he never returned. By no stretch of the imagination could this request satisfy the requirements of § 1652.2. Thus, under the regulation, Adkins’ board had no authority to reopen his classification on April 19. This being so, there can be no presumption that it acted properly. It follows that there need be no showing such as the majority would require, that there was “bad faith or mismanagement by the board.”
In the usual case, there will be no claim that a reopening was erroneous, because the resulting delay in induction works to the advantage of the registrant. Here, however, the shoe is on the other foot. The prejudice to Adkins is obvious: his exposure as a member of the Extended Priority Selection Group (EPSG) has been extended to half a year. The EPSG regulations create an extraordinary liability to induction which can only have an unsettling effect upon the life of the registrant.2 While the regulations were not intended to place local boards in a stráStjacket, an open-ended period of vulnerability is precisely the evil which they were designed to prevent.
Moreover, to require a showing of bad faith or mismanagement on the part of the board would, as a practical matter, eliminate the “as soon as practicable” requirement altogether. This ease is a perfect example of how the majority’s interpretation would permit a' local board to play fast and loose with its regulations, issuing an induction order whenever it got around to it. I would hold that “as soon as practicable,” while not an inflexible requirement, obliges the board to act properly and expeditiously after April 1.
Despite the fact that United States v. Lewis, 9 Cir., 1972, incorporating by reference D.Or., 1972, supra, involved a sua sponte reopening of the registrant’s classification with a consequent delay in induction, it is not in point here. In that case it does not appear that the board’s power to reopen on its own motion was challenged. More importantly there the board’s action took place on March 1, well before the obligation to proceed “as soon as practicable” accrued. An induction order was issued promptly upon the expiration of the appeal period. Lewis is thus easily distinguished on its facts.
No court has interpreted the “as soon as practicable” requirement in circumstances even remotely similar to those of this case. With one exception, which, although it resulted in reversal of the registrant’s conviction, is distinguish-lidity of induction orders issued either in March or early April, with induction able,3 prior cases have involved the va-*385scheduled for April.4 Thus, the sole issue of consequence in those cases was whether April 1 is an absolute cutoff date for induction of members of the EPSG. Recognizing that there is often considerable jockeying by registrants immediately prior to induction, and that it is unreasonable to impose inflexible deadlines upon local boards, the cases have uniformly rejected such arguments. I agree with the results of those cases, but they are not relevant here.
In sum, Adkins’ board would receive all of the judicial deference and room for administrative flexibility to which it is entitled if we were to hold that it was not required to issue an induction order on March 15. The further delay occasioned by its improper action on April 19 was unjustified. I would reverse Adkins’ conviction.

. “As a matter of public record, the board met on Monday, March 15.” (Brief of appellee, p. 4.)

. In this regard I find it significant that one of the President’s goals in instituting the lottery system was to place precise limits upon a registrant’s period of prime draft vulnerability so as to reduce the uncertainty that accompanies it. See S.Rep. 91-531, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., quoted in 1969 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 1318, 1321. The EPSG regulations were promulgated in connection with the lottery system. Exec.Order No. 11,563, 3 C.F.R. 972, 974-975 (1966-70 Comp.).

. The exception is United States v. Born, W.D.Mich., 1972, 338 F.Supp. 444. I do not mean to suggest that the conduct of Adkins’ board approached the level of mismanagement present in that case. The majority and I part company with respect to whether such misconduct is necessary.

. United States v. Bowen, 9 Cir., 1972, 467 F.2d 470 (March 15 induction order, induction scheduled for April 26); United States v. Lewis, supra (April 5 and April 27); Lawton v. Tarr, 4 Cir., 1971, 446 F.2d 787 (April 5 and April 21); Smith v. Tarr, 2 Cir., 1971, 444 F.2d 251 (March 24 and April 15); Schemanski v. Tarr, N.D.Ill., 1971, 331 F.Supp. 65 (April 5 and April 16). In Levine v. Selective Service Local Bd. No. 18, 2 Cir., 1972, 458 F.2d 1281, there was a dispute as to whether the board had opened the registrant’s classification on March 1 following an interview held on February 23 to discuss his claim for an occupational deferment. An induction order had been issued on April 26, requiring him to report on May 13. While reversing a district court order dismissing the complaint so that the factual issue could be determined, the court observed that, if the board did reopen on March 1, “it would appear that the issuance was ‘as soon as practicable’.” Id. at 1285. Not only was this dictum, but it was clear that the board would have been justified in reopening before April 1, and there was nothing to indicate that it did not issue the order at its first meeting thereafter.