Court Opinion

ID: 9425436
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:14:40.5486+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:55.541716
License: Public Domain

*693Mr. Justice Stewart,
dissenting in No. 71-6314, Gosa v. Mayden, and, joined by Mr. Justice Douglas, concurring in the result in No. 71-1398, Warner v. Flemings.
I dissented in O’Callahan v. Parker, 395 U. S. 258, 274 (1969), and continue to believe that that case was wrongly decided. Until or unless O’Callahan is overruled, however, I think it must be given fully retroactive application for the reasons stated in my Brother Marshall’s persuasive dissenting opinion, post, this page. Accordingly, I join his dissenting opinion as it applies to No. 71-6314, Gosa v. Mayden.
But that view, in my opinion, does not dispose of No. 71-1398, Warner v. Flemings. I think that a serviceman who deserts his post during a time of congressionally declared war and steals an automobile is guilty of a “service connected” offense. Accordingly, I conclude that the respondent Flemings was properly tried before a court-martial under O’Callahan. Cf. Relford v. Commandant, 401 U. S. 355, 365 (1971). For this reason I concur in the result reached by the Court in the Flemings case.