Court Opinion

ID: 9444517
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 21:03:41.035695+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:54.250548
License: Public Domain

MAGRUDER, Chief Judge
(concurring).
I concur in the opinion and judgment of the court. In addition, I should like to suggest another ground for concluding that the district court lacked jurisdiction of the complaint, namely, that the suit in effect was one against the United • States, and the United States has not consented to be sued in this manner. I recognize that I may be mistaken about this, since the contrary seems to have been assumed (without notation of the point, however) in cases like Hilton v. Sullivan, 1948, 334 U.S. 323, 68 S.Ct. 1020, 92 L.Ed. 1416, and Elder v. Brannan, 1951, 341 U.S. 277, 71 S.Ct. 685, 95 L.Ed. 939. But since the object sought by the injunctive relief prayed for is the retention of the plaintiff on the federal pay roll, with the consequent obligation upon the United States, I assume, to continue paying for his services, it seems difficult to avoid the conclusion that the present suit is in substance one against the United States.
Suppose the plaintiff had obtained his injunction in the present litigation, and had continued working at the Boston Naval Shipyard. And suppose, upon the government’s refusal to pay him his salary, he brought suit against the United States in the Court of Claims. Would the plaintiff expect to have to litigate de novo in the Court of Claims the issue as to his right under the Veterans’ Preference Act? If so, then what would the plaintiff have gained in the present injunction suit except the right to work for nothing? Or would the Court of Claims have to hold that the United States was under an inescapable obligation to pay for the services actually rendered by the plaintiff, albeit services forced upon the United States as a result of the injunction forbidding the Commander of the Naval Shipyard from discharging plaintiff ?
These considerations suggest to me that what the Supreme Court said in Lynch v. United States, 1934, 292 U.S. 571, 54 S.Ct. 840, 78 L.Ed. 1434, is applicable to the case at bar. The Court in that case said 292 U.S. at page 582, 54 S.Ct. at page 845: “When the United States creates rights in individuals against itself, it is under no obligation to provide a remedy through the courts. United States v. Babcock, 250 U.S. 328, 331, 39 S.Ct. 464, 63 L.Ed. 1011. It may limit the individual to administrative *527remedies. Tutun v. United States, 270 U.S. 568, 576, 46 S.Ct. 425, 70 L.Ed. 738.” When one considers the practical problems of administration, it is apparent why the Congress did not provide in the Veterans’ Preference Act for judicial enforcement of the rights conferred.1 Administration of the Act is confided to the Civil Service Commission, which is empowered to issue appropriate regulations. If, due to budgetary limitations, curtailment of force is necessary, and the proper department head or other official prepares to put into effect a schedule of layoffs in accordance with regulations of the Civil Service Commission, the program of curtailment would be thwarted if it could be held up by injunction in court proceedings instituted by anyone threatened with lay-off or discharge.

. By the Act of June 30, 1948, 5 U.S.C.A. § 652, Congress did provide that an employee having rights under § 14 of the Veterans’ Preference Act of 1944, who is discharged, and after an administrative appeal to the Civil Service, Commission is restored to duty on the ground that the discharge was unjustified or unwarranted, shall be paid back pay, at the rate of compensation received on the date of discharge; for the period during which the discharge was in effect, less any amounts earned by him in other employment during that period. It was recognized by the Court of Claims in O'Brien v. United States, 1953, 124 Ct.Ol. 655, that a discharged employee who has been so reinstated may sue in the Court of Claims to enforce this statutory right to back pay.