Court Opinion

ID: 9424270
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:11:03.634442+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:49.287172
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice White,
with whom The Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Stewart join,
concurring in the result.
I agree that Congress cannot constitutionally distinguish between those theatrical performances that do and those that do not “tend to discredit” the military, in authorizing persons not on active duty to wear a uniform. I do not agree, however, with the Court’s conclusion that as a matter of law petitioner must be found to have been engaged in a “theatrical production” within the meaning of 10 U. S. C. § 772 (f). That issue, it seems to me, is properly left to the determination of the jury.
The United States has argued that the exception for “theatrical productions” must be limited to performances in a setting equivalent to a playhouse or theater where observers will necessarily be aware that they are watching a make-believe performance. Under this interpretation, the Government suggests, petitioner must be found as a matter of law not to have been engaged in a “theatrical production”; hence, his conviction for unauthorized wearing of the uniform is lawful without regard to the validity of the “tend to discredit” proviso to § 772 (f). The Court, on the other hand, while refusing to assay a definition of the statutory language, flatly declares that under any interpretation, Congress could not possibly have meant to exclude petitioner’s “street skit” from the class of “theatrical productions.” Neither extreme, in my view, is correct. The critical question *70in deciding what is to count as a “theatrical production” ought to be whether or not, considering all the circumstances of the performance, an ordinary observer would have thought he was seeing a fictitious portrayal rather than a piece of reality. And, although the judge's instructions here did not precisely reflect this interpretation, this question seems eminently suited to resolution by the jury.
Under proper instructions, then, a jury could have concluded that no theatrical production was involved, in which case the verdict should be sustained. However, the judge's instructions also permitted conviction on a finding that petitioner was engaged in a theatrical production, but that the production tended to discredit the military. See App. 51-54. Since the general verdict does not disclose which of these findings — only one of which can constitutionally entail conviction— was the actual finding, the conviction must of course be reversed. Stromberg v. California, 283 U. S. 359 (1931). I thus join the judgment of reversal but find it neither necessary nor correct to hold that petitioner’s “theatrics” perforce amounted to a “theatrical production.”