Court Opinion

ID: 9475376
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:25:19.623504+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:40.652106
License: Public Domain

EDWARDS, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the result:
I agree that this case must be returned to the BCNR for a determination on the merits of Colonel Miller’s claim. Miller’s application for expungement plainly asserts that the Secretary of the Navy had no legitimate basis to issue a letter of censure concerning his conduct as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. However, in considering Miller’s claims, both the BCNR and the Secretary limited their review to a determination regarding the legality of the procedures used to censure Miller. No judgment has ever been rendered on Miller’s claim that he was not guilty of misconduct while a prisoner of war.
Because I cannot find that Miller was entitled to more procedural due process than that which he received, I agree that his procedural claim lacks merit. In essence, the BCNR found, and Miller now argues, that the Secretary’s treatment of Miller violated “naval tradition.” The Secretary disagreed, but neither the BCNR, the Secretary nor Miller has cited us to any convincing authority on the question of “naval tradition.” Since we cannot hold the Secretary’s position to be legally infirm merely because Miller says that it is, and because we can find nothing in the record of this case to support a claim that the Secretary’s view of “naval tradition” is wrong, we cannot overturn the Secretary’s decision on this point.
In my view, once we have reached this conclusion on the so-called “procedural” issue, there is nothing left for this court to consider at this juncture. Since neither the *501Secretary nor the BCNR even purported to render a decision on the merits of Miller’s petition to expunge the letter of censure, it is unnecessary for us to pursue the District Court’s analysis of alleged “legal error.” In other words, this court should not consider any arguments regarding alleged limitations on the Secretary’s authority to issue letters of censure until after there has been a final judgment on Miller’s claims on the merits. Accordingly, I cannot join in any of the views set forth in part III-B (“legal error”) of the majority opinion.
I join only in the result requiring a remand of this case for a consideration of the merits of Colonel Miller’s claims.