Court Opinion

ID: 9456569
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:56:55.923373+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:01.905131
License: Public Domain

GIBBONS, Circuit Judge (concurring in the result).
Plaintiff appeals from the order of the district court dismissing his complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b) (1), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, for want of jurisdiction over the subject matter. The complaint claims jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (1964) (federal questions) and under 28 U.S.C. § 1361 (1964) (mandamus against a federal official) and prays for relief appropriate under both sections. The complaint alleges that in June, 1968 plaintiff was classified I-A by the defendant Local Board; that he appealed this classification on the ground that he was a conscientious objector; that while that appeal was pending he notified the defendant Local Board of changed conditions which prima facie entitled him to a III-A deferment and requested that the Local Board reopen his classification; that the Local Board refused to reopen. The complaint does not specify what changed conditions were called to the attention of the Local Board. It alleges that the failure of the Local Board to reopen plaintiff’s classification and consider his prima facie claim to a III-A deferment was a denial of his constitutional rights.
No answer was filed. Instead the defendant Local Board filed a motion under Rule 12(b) asserting:
“(1) The court lacks jurisdiction of the person of the defendant.
(2) The court lacks jurisdiction of the subject matter.
(3) The venue of the action is improper.
(4) Service of process was insufficient.
(5) The complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
*1130(6) Plaintiff has an adequate remedy at law.”
Neither party filed any affidavits on the motion. At the conclusion of the argument the district court invited the plaintiff “to complete your record as to what you are going to prove on the merits,” and eight exhibits, letters from the file of the defendant Local Board, were marked in evidence without objection. There was no waiver, however, by either party of the right to a final hearing after answer in the event of a ruling on the Rule 12(b) motion favorable to the plaintiff. At best there was a partial presentation by plaintiff of evidence in support of his Rule 65 motion for a preliminary injunction. The district court did not rule on that motion.
The exhibits disclose that plaintiff, who had received a II-S (student deferment) classification, was classified I-A in June of 1968. He appealed that classification to the State Appeal Board on the ground that he was entitled to a 1-0 (conscientious objector) classification. By letter on November 7, 1968 he notified the Local Board of his wife’s pregnancy. This letter was supplemented by three letters from a physician confirming the pregnancy, the expected date of confinement in June of 1969, and certain other of the wife’s health problems. When the State Appeal Board decided against him on his 1-0 claim plaintiff on April 7, 1969 requested a III-A classification, asserting both his impending fatherhood and hardship to his wife if he were to be drafted. The Local Board on May 2, 1969 advised him that it would not reopen. Although it does not appear in the record before the district court, the parties had advised this court that plaintiff is now a father. Neither plaintiff’s fatherhood claim nor his hardship claim are referred to expressly in the complaint. It refers only generally to “changed conditions, which, prima facie, entitle Plaintiff to a 3-A deferment.”
Defendants relied in the district court on lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter because of § 10(b) (3) of the Selective Service Act of 1967, 50 App. U.S.C. § 460(b) (3) (Supp. IV 1969). The order appealed from provided:
“ORDERED that defendant’s motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b) (1) is GRANTED.”
The district court opinion, although it makes reference to the nature of the III-A deferment claims asserted by plaintiff to the Board, is expressly limited to a determination of lack of subject matter jurisdiction. It makes no determination on any of the remaining grounds advanced by the defendant. It make no determination (aside from that respecting subject matter jurisdiction) that the allegations of the complaint fail to state a cause of action. The district court did not treat the motion as one under Rule 12(b) (6) which it converted to Rule 56 motion. It expressly limited its order to granting a motion under Rule 12(b) (1).
Judge Freedman and the judges who concur in his opinion, looking at the exhibits which were marked at the hearing on the preliminary injunction, conclude that the Local Board acted solely on the mistaken legal ground that any II-S classification received after July 1, 1967, even one based on a post-baccalaureate student status, prevented a III-A fatherhood classification. See Gregory v. Hershey, 311 F.Supp. 1 (E.D.Mich.S.D.1969). But on this sparse record it is not clear that the rejection of the fatherhood claim was the sole basis of the Board’s action, nor do we know for certain whether the plaintiff’s student deferment was pre- or post-baccalaureate. I would not assume original rather than appellate jurisdiction to decide the fatherhood issue which was never decided by the district court.
Judge Aldisert, and Judge Van Dusen who concurs in his opinion, also look at the contents of the exhibits to reject the plaintiff’s fatherhood claim. They find that the exhibits do not evidence that appellant’s II-S classification was at a post-baccalaureate stage, and that appellant therefore failed to carry the burden *1131of his immunity from service. They also would affirm a final summary judgment which was never made in the district court. But the more fundamental defect in their position is that it ignores the allegations of the complaint. Plaintiff complains that the Local Board refused to reopen. Thus, he says, he was denied the procedural opportunity to carry the burden of establishing his entitlement to a deferment. We cannot, by looking at those parts of the registrant’s selective service file which are in the record, conclude that he has failed to meet a burden which he was never given an opportunity to meet.
On the hardship claim Judges Aldisert and Van Dusen confront the issue which was framed by the complaint and the Rule 12(b) motion and which was decided by the district court. That issue is whether, assuming the truth of the allegation that the Local Board failed to reopen after being notified of changed conditions which prima, facie entitled plaintiff to a III-A deferment, § 10(b) (3) barred pre-induction judicial review. It is on those pleadings that the same issue is presented here, since the district court order is expressly limited to a decision of the Rule 12(b) (1) motion. Since, assuming subject matter jurisdiction, the allegations of the complaint might well be controverted, I see no appropriate way to avoid the decision of that issue. Judge Freedman and the judges who concur in his decision distinguish between the undiluted question of law presented to the Local Board by the fatherhood claim and the mixed question of law and fact presented by the hardship claim. An erroneous Local Board decision of the former, they say, may give rise to an opportunity for pre-induction judicial review. The refusal to reopen and consider the latter apparently would not. I do not think the opportunity to draw such a line is presented on this record.
Plaintiff was already classified when the changed circumstances occurred on which he relied for his change of classification from Class I-A to Class III-A. Class III-A includes persons deferred for reason of family relationship, 32 C.F. R. § 1522.30(a), and for reasons of extreme hardship, 32 C.F.R. § 1622.30(b). The regulations creating these classifications were adopted pursuant to 50 U.S.C. App. § 456(h) (2) (Supp. IV 1969), which by virtue of the Universal Military Training Act of June 19, 1951, ch. 144, § l(o), 65 Stat. 84, limited dependency deferments for married men who had no dependents other than a wife to cases of extreme hardship.
The Local Boards are creatures of the Selective Service Act. Their jurisdiction is defined in 50 U.S.C. App. § 460(b) (3) (Supp. IV 1969):
“Such local boards, or separate panels thereof each consisting of three or more members, shall, under rules and regulations prescribed by the President, have the power within the respective jurisdictions of such local boards to hear and determine, subject to the right of appeal to the appeal boards herein authorized, all questions or claims with respect to inclusion for, or exemption or deferment from, training and service under this title * * *, of all individuals within the jurisdiction of such local boards. The decisions of such local board shall be final, except where an appeal is authorized and is taken in accordance with such rules and regulations as the President may prescribe.” (emphasis added)
Regulations have been adopted which set forth the procedure for taking an appeal to the appeal boards, which the same statute creates in each federal judicial district. 50 U.S.C. App. § 460(b) (3) (Supp. IV 1969); 32 C.F.R. pt. 1626 (1969). Recognizing that the status of a registrant is subject to change, the regulations provide that no classification is permanent. 32 C.F.R. § 1625.1(a) (1969), and provide a mechanism for reopening the registrant’s classification, 32 C.F.R. pt. 1625 (1969). The sections of pt. 1625 relevant to this case provide:
“The local board may reopen and consider anew the classification of a reg*1132istrant (a) upon the written request of the registrant, * * * if such request is accompanied by written information presenting facts not considered when the registrant was classified, which, if true, would justify a change in the registrant’s classification; * * *” 32 C.F.R. § 1625.2 (1969).
“When a registrant * * * files with the local board a written request to reopen and consider anew the registrant’s classification and the local board is of the opinion that the information accompanying such request fails to present any facts in addition to those considered when the registrant was classified or, even if new facts are presented, the local board is of the opinion that such facts, if true, would not justify a change in such registrant’s classification, it shall not reopen the registrant’s classification * * * ” 32 C.F.R. § 1625.4 (1969).
If the Local Board determines that the information submitted does not warrant reopening, the regulations provide no right of appearance and no right of appeal.
Thus, under the regulations, establishment of a right to deferment because of changed circumstances following an initial classification depends in the first instance on the ex parte determination by a Local Board whether or not to reopen. This determination is not appeal-able to an appeal board despite the fact that Local Boards are, under the statute, authorized only “to hear and determine, subject to the right of appeal to the appeal boards herein authorized.” 50 U.S.C. App. § 460(b) (3) (Supp. IV, 1969)
The respondents would have us hold that the language “subject to the right of appeal to the appeal boards herein authorized” either has no meaning or is limited by the later language:
“The decision of such local boards shall be final except where an appeal is authorized and is taken in accordance with such rules and regulations as the President may prescribe.”
The right of administrative appeal, in other words, would depend on whether and to what extent the President decides to allow it. In this instance, respondents contend, the President has seen fit not to allow it. He has permitted the Local Boards, by refusing to reopen, to eliminate administrative appeal.
As I will develop hereinafter, such a construction of the statute, when read together with a prohibition of pre-induction judicial review, raises very serious questions of due process and separation of powers. In fact, however, the courts have not so construed the statute.
This reclassification procedure has been before the courts in a number of cases. It is now firmly established that where a registrant presents to a Local Board facts which prima facie set forth a basis for reclassification the local board must reopen. Failure to reopen where a prima facie case for reclassification is claimed has consistently been held to be a denial of procedural due process. Mulloy v. United States, 398 U.S. 410, 90 S.Ct. 1766, 26 L.Ed.2d 362 (1970); United States v. Turner, 421 F.2d 1251 (3d Cir. 1970); Davis v. United States, 410 F.2d 89 (8th Cir. 1969); United States v. Grier, 415 F.2d 1098 (4th Cir. 1969) ; Petrie v. United States, 407 F.2d 267 (9th Cir. 1969); Fore v. United States, 395 F.2d 548, 554 (10th Cir. 1968); Robertson v. United States, 404 F.2d 1141 (5th Cir. 1968), rev’d en banc on other grounds, 417 F.2d 440 (1969); Vaughn v. United States, 404 F.2d 586 (8th Cir. 1968), vacated on other grounds sub nom. Morico v. United States, 399 U.S. 526, 90 S.Ct. 2230, 26 L.Ed.2d 776 (1970); Miller v. United States, 388 F.2d 973 (9th Cir. 1967); United States v. Freeman, 388 F.2d 246 (7th Cir. 1967); Townsend v. Zimmerman, 237 F.2d 376 (6th Cir. 1956); Stain v. United States, 235 F.2d 339 (9th Cir. 1956); United States v. Ransom, 223 F.2d 15 (7th Cir. 1955); United States v. Vincelli, 215 F.2d 210 (2d Cir. 1954); *1133United States ex rel. Berman v. Craig, 207 F.2d 888 (3d Cir. 1953); United States v. Burlich, 257 F.Supp. 906, 911 (S.D.N.Y.1966).
While all but one of these cases involved post- rather than pre-induction review, all are quite directly in point insofar as the statutory jurisdiction of Local Boards is involved. All hold that despite the permissive or discretionary language of 32 C.F.R. § 1625.2 a Local Board must, when faced with a prima facie claim of changed circumstances calling for reclassification, reopen and afford administrative appellate review. That part of the statute on which the respondents rely to establish that appellate review exists only when the President authorizes it makes no distinction between post- and pre-induction judicial review.
The Mulloy case would seem to put all doubts to rest, for in it Justice Stewart, for a unanimous court, writes:
“Though the language of 32 CFR § 1625.2 is permissive, it does not follow that a Board may arbitrarily refuse to reopen a registrant’s classification.” 398 U.S. at 415, 90 S.Ct. at 1770.
Thus it is beyond argument that a Local Board is obliged to reopen a classification when presented with a prima facie claim for reclassification. The remaining question is whether pre-induction judicial review is available when a Local Board fails to afford this opportunity.
Respondents rely principally on Clark v. Gabriel, 393 U.S. 256, 89 S.Ct. 424, 21 L.Ed.2d 418 (1968). That ease is the slenderest of reeds. In the first place that per curiam opinion dealt with a situation entirely unrelated to the instant case. It did not involve reopening. The registrant was afforded a hearing before the Local Board on his conscientious objector claim. He was afforded the full panoply of de novo administrative appeal rights applicable to conscientious objector claims before the 1967 amendments to the Selective Service Act. There was no charge of procedural irregularity or abuse of discretion. Plaintiff’s only contention was that the administrative process had made an erroneous determination of a factual issue after all administrative hearing and appeal safeguards were afforded. The case summarily reversed a district court decision that § 10(b) (3) was unconstitutional even as so applied. Thus reliance on Clark v. Gabriel is justified only if the nonavailability of administrative review following a refusal to reopen can be ignored. To liken an administratively nonreviewable refusal to reopen to a reclassification determination which was followed by full administrative review, including a de novo investigation and interview, we would have to ignore the Mulloy decision which said:
“Even if the local board denies the requested reclassification [after reopening], there is a crucial difference between such board action and a simple refusal to reopen the classification at all.” 398 U.S. at 414, 90 S.Ct. at 1770.
The Supreme Court observed, further, that precisely because judicial review is postponed in the Clark v. Gabriel situation, “the opportunity for full administrative review is indispensible to the fair operation of the Selective Service System.” Id., 398 U.S. at 416, 90 S.Ct. at 1771.
In the second place, the language of the per curiam opinion in Clark v. Gabriel on which the respondents place such heavy reliance, represents the thinking of only three members of that Court, Justices Warren, Harlan and Marshall. Justice Black voted against summary reversal. Justice Douglas concurred on a very narrow ground, and his brief opinion supports pre-induction judicial review where the Board has abused its discretion. A refusal to reopen and reconsider a prima facie claim of change in circumstances which would result in a z-eclassifieati on has repeatedly been held to be an abuse of discretion. Justices Brennan, Stewart and White concurred in the judgment, but not in the opinion, for the reasons set forth in Justice Stewart’s dissent in Oestereich v. Selective Service System Local Bd., 393 U.S. 233, 89 S.Ct. 414, 21 L.Ed.2d 402 (1968). They concurred, *1134in other words, not because the distinction between Oestereich and Clark v. Gabriel suggested in the per curiam opinion in the latter case was valid, but because in their view Oestereich was wrongly decided. Thus the per curiam opinion on summary reversal in Clark v. Gabriel affords no guidance whatsoever to the proper construction of § 10(b) (3).1
In Oestereich the Supreme Court rejected a literal reading of § 10(b) (3) which would have barred judicial review even in a post-induction habeas corpus case. The ease was remanded to a district court so that petitioner might have the opportunity to prove that he had been ordered to report for induction pursuant to the delinquency regulations, 32 C.F.R. pt. 1642, when he was entitled to an exemption as an enrolled divinity student.
The Second Circuit, in Breen v. Selective Service Local Bd., 406 F.2d 636 (2d Cir. 1969), rev’d, 396 U.S. 460, 90 S.Ct. 661, 24 L.Ed.2d 653 (1970), assumed that the Oestereich interpretation of § 10(b) (3) could somehow be circumscribed. It drew a distinction between reclassification of registrants seeking statutory exemption (such as divinity students, 50 U.S.C. App. 456(g)) and that of registrants seeking deferments (such as students, 50 U.S.C. App. § 456 (h) (1)). The Supreme Court rejected this distinction, holding that the Oester-eich exception was equally available to either category of registrant. Justice Black, writing for the Court said:
“In both situations a draft registrant who was required by the relevant law not to be inducted was in fact ordered to report for military service. In both cases the order for induction involved a ‘clear departure by the Board from the statutory mandate,’ Oestereich, supra, [393] at 238, [89 S.Ct. [414], at 416, 21 L.Ed.2d 402, and in both cases § 10(b) (3) of the Act should not have been construed to require the registrant to submit to induction or risk criminal prosecution to test the legality of the induction order.” 396 U.S. at 467-468, 90 S.Ct. at 666.
Both in Oestereich and in Breen Justice Harlan suggested a somewhat different formulation of the exceptions to § 10(b) (3) than that announced in the opinion of the Court. In Oestereich he suggested that a challenge to the administrative procedure itself was beyond the competence of the Selective Service Boards to hear and determine and therefore outside § 10(b) (3). Oestereich v. Selective Service System Local Bd., 393 U.S. at 242, 89 S.Ct. 414, 21 L.Ed.2d 402. In Breen he wrote:
“The Court’s opinion here, as in Oest-ereich v. Selective Service [System Local] Bd., 393 U.S. 233 [89 S.Ct. 414, 21 L.Ed.2d 402] (1968), appears to make the availability of pre-induction *1135review turn on the lawfulness of the draft board’s action or, to put it another way, on the certainty with which the reviewing court can determine that the registrant would prevail on the merits if there were such judicial review of his classification. On the other hand, under the test put forward in my separate opinion in Oestereich, 393 U.S. 239-245, [89 S.Ct. 417, 420-421], the availability of pre-induction review turns, not on what amounts to an advance decision on the merits, but rather on the nature of the challenge being made.
“In Oestereich, the registrant sought pre-induction review of claims that the delinquency procedure employed by the board was ‘not authorized by any statute,’ was ‘inconsistent with his statutory exemption,’ and was ‘facially unconstitutional,’ 393 U.S., at 239, [89 S.Ct. at 417].” 396 U.S. at 468, 90 S.Ct. at 666.
Whether under the test suggested by Justice Harlan or under that suggested by the majority opinions in Oestereich and Breen, it would seem that pre-induction judicial review is available of refusals to reopen when a prima facie claim has been filed. I can perceive no valid distinction between the challenge to the delinquency reclassification procedures considered in Breen and Oeste-reich and the challenge to the reopening procedures made here. As the case comes before us, plaintiff has given notice of a prima facie change in conditions entitling him to reclassification. He complains that the reclassification procedures followed by the Local Board, which ex parte denied him a hearing and an appeal, are both lacking in statutory authorization and violative of constitutional rights. That challenge to 32 C.F. R. § 1625.4 (1969) is no different in kind than the challenge to 32 C.F.R. pt. 1642 (1969) permitted in those cases.
Moreover, Estep v. United States, supra, and Falbo v. United States, supra, relied on by respondents, are not controlling. They only decided that a previous statute, § 10(a) (2) of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, 54 Stat. 893, did not, despite its broad language to the effect that decisions of Local Boards were final except for administrative review, prohibit judicial review at some point. Estep and Falbo, by so construing that statute, as well as Witmer v. United States, supra, and Billings v. Truesdell, supra, avoided the decision of the question whether Congress could constitutionally in the same statute (1) permit a local administrative agency to make an ex parte determination which is unreviewable in any administrative appellate proceeding if the local agency so decides, and (2) prohibit any review of the factual or legal correctness or even the fundamental fairness of that decision except in a criminal enforcement or post-induction habeas corpus proceeding. The Supreme Court has avoided deciding this same issue by its construction of § 10(b) (3) in Oestereich and Breen.2 It cannot be avoided if we accept the interpretation of § 10(b) (3) urged by the respondents in this case.
Administrative appellate review may be a sufficient due process substitute for pre-induction judicial review. But discretionary elimination by the original administrative agency of any administrative review, coupled with postponement of judicial review until a criminal trial or a post-induction habeas corpus proceeding presents a much more complex due process issue. It is true that Congress has the power to give, withhold and restrict the jurisdiction of the lower federal courts. Ex parte Me-*1136Cardle, 7 Wall. 506, 19 L.Ed. 264 (1868), and Cary v. Curtis, 3 How. 236, 245,11 L.Ed. 576 (1845). Both this proposition and those cases are somewhat beside the point, however, for while Congress may have more or less unlimited power over the jurisdiction of the lower federal courts, the extent of its authority to eliminate or postpone any judicial power to test the due process of an unreviewable administrative decision has not been determined. Taken literally, § 10(b) (3) is applicable to all courts. Article III, § 2 says that the judicial power of the United States “shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made * * By interpreting § 10(b) (3) as postponing judicial review only where the administrative remedies have been fully and legally afforded to the registrant in a non-arbitrary manner, the Supreme Court in Oestereich and Breen has avoided the necessity of determining the full meaning of Article III, § 2 in the face of what may be a due process claim.3 When Oestereich, Breen and Mulloy as read together point out a path which avoids a constitutional issue, that path should be followed. The Mulloy case, read in conjunction with Oestereich and Breen, indicates that the deprivation of administrative review by a local board which couches its decision on a prima facie claim in the guise of a refusal to reopen is an arbitrary action subject to pre-induction judicial review. If this is not so, § 10 (b) (3) may well be unconstitutional. Clark v. Gabriel, supra, holds no more than that postponement of judicial review is constitutional where administrative review has in the meantime been afforded.
It seems to me that the correct interpretation of 50 U.S.C. App. § 460(b) is this:
(1) The power of a Local Board to decide whether a change in circumstances entitled a registrant to a new classification is subject to administrative appeal whenever a prima facie claim is presented.
(2) The refusal of a Local Board to reopen when presented with such a prima facie claim is an abuse of discretion subject to judicial review. Mulloy v. United States, supra, and cases therein cited.
(3) Such an abuse of discretion is a clear legal error and judicial review of that legal error is available not only in post-induction ha-beas corpus and criminal cases but also in pre-induction mandamus or injunction cases. Oestereich v. Selective Service Bd., supra; Breen v. Selective Service Bd., supra.
A disturbing aspect of the construction of governing cases set forth in Judge Aldisert's opinion is its potential impact on post-induction judicial review. It suggests an interrelationship between Clark v. Gabriel and Mulloy which makes a decision to reopen “discretionary” in deferment claims cases such as hardship, where an evaluation of the claim (not the facts) “inescapably involves a determination of fact and an exercise of judgment.” If this is true of a hardship claim, a fortiori it is true of a conscientious objector claim. By reviewing such Local Board refusals to reopen as discretionary, and the exercise of such discretion as beyond the scope of administrative review mandated by the statute, one might invite a reviewing court in a criminal or habeas corpus case to uphold such refusals to reopen on the same ground. It is quite difficult to reconcile any such unreviewable Local Board discretion with the holding in Mulloy that a Local Board must reopen unless a prima facie claim is “conclusively refuted” by the file. 398 U.S. at 416, 90 S.Ct. 1766, 26 L.Ed.2d 362. I view the Mulloy standard for judicial review as looking no further than the legal sufficiency of the new facts alleged. This is exactly what federal courts always do on a motion under Rule 12(b) (6). Such a decision is nei*1137ther factual nor discretionary. Nothing in the language of § 10(b) (3) or in the opinions in Oestereich and Breen suggest that a different scope of review of the legal sufficiency of the facts alleged applies in pre-versus post-induction cases.
The government urges in virtually every pre-induction selective service case that the interpretation of the statute suggested by the plaintiff will invite extensive judicial interference with the operation of the Selective Service System. Always we are reminded of the plight of the party, not before the court, who must serve in place of the registrant who obtains relief. But this interference with the operation of the system arises not because of judicial review but because of the nature of a selective rather than a universal system. Congress has chosen a selective service system. Having made that choice it may not subject individual registrants to methods of selection which fail to comport with due process standards. If it does so, the congressional power to raise armies may run afoul of the judicial power of the United States to enforce constitutional standards of due process of law in appropriate cases. In my view an adequate means of administrative review is a due process quid pro quo for postponement of judicial review until a criminal or other post-induction proceeding.4
Judge Hastie’s position with respect to the disposition of this case is essentially no different from mine, except that he would read § 10(b) (3) as possibly barring suits for injunction but inapplicable to mandamus actions. If that position commanded a majority I would concur in his opinion and, as he does, leave to another occasion a discussion of the due process and jurisdictional issues. Since we are unable to agree on a majority opinion I feel it is appropriate to express the view that the 0estereich-Breen interpretation of § 10(b) (3) is not limited to situations in which mandamus would be available.
I would reverse the order of the district court and remand for further proceeding to determine whether plaintiff had notified the defendant Local Board of changed conditions which, prima facie, would entitle him to a III-A deferment. If the court should determine that he had, then I would require that the district court order the Board to reopen plaintiff’s classification and hold a hearing on his claim for deferment.
FREEDMAN, Circuit Judge.
I would reverse the judgment of dismissal for want of jurisdiction. It denies relief to a registrant on the ground that he has not carried the burden of proving his right to a III-A fatherhood classification even though the decisive facts which establish his claim are now acknowledged and necessarily must be present in his selective service file.
When he made his application for a III-A fatherhood classification the registrant had no cause to believe that he should draw the Board’s attention to the fact, now known to be decisive,1 that his II-S classification was based on a post-baccalaureate student status. The Board, however, as it now appears, acted solely on the mistaken legal ground that any II-S classification received after July 1, 1967, even one based on a post-baccalaureate student status, prevented a III-A fatherhood classification. That this was the basis of its action is clear-cut from the record. Its letter of rejection states: “Since you had requested and received a II-S deferment after July 1, 1967, you are not entitled to a III-A for fatherhood.” 2 The Board, however, *1138is bound by the law as it is later declared to have been applicable in the proper classification of a registrant. The registrant is not bound by the Board’s error of legal interpretation. Indeed, in view of the Board’s relationship to him which requires the utmost fairness and helpfulness in deciding his claim as a matter of law,3 it should itself have sought out the vital factor which required his III-A fatherhood classification.
This factor is not in dispute. It was agreed by the parties at bar that the registrant’s II-S classification was based on his status as a post-baccalaureate student. There is no necessity for the Board to examine its file to determine the fact, for it is now made conclusive by the stipulation. It therefore seems to me unjust to affirm the denial of relief when the agreement of the parties shows that as a matter of law the registrant was entitled to a III-A fatherhood classification.
There remains then the question whether § 10(b) (3) of the Military Selective Service Act of 1967,4 prevents pre-induction judicial review of the Board’s mistake of law.
There is involved in the present case no element of discretionary judgment or evaluation of evidence; there is simply an undiluted question of law, which is an established basis for pre-induction review. See Breen v. Selective Service Local Board No. 16, 396 U.S. 460, 467-468, 90 S.Ct. 661, 24 L.Ed.2d 653 (1970); Oestereich v. Selective Service System Local Board No. 11, 393 U.S. 233, 89 S.Ct. 414, 21 L.Ed.2d 402 (1968).5 The characterization in Oestereich of the conduct of a board which justifies pre-induction judicial intervention as “blatantly lawless” (393 U.S. at 238, 89 S.Ct. 414) is intended as a description of a clear-cut error of law. It does not require an intentional defiance of the law. Indeed, the phrase is used in the opinion as the equivalent of “basically lawless.” (393 U.S. at 237, 89 S.Ct. 414)
Here the Board took a view of a highly debatable legal issue which I believe was the wrong one. Its action was lawless in the sense that it was contrary to the correct rule of law. It is of no material significance that in Oestereich the registrant sought a statutory exemption, whereas here he seeks a deferment. Breen, supra, 396 U.S. at 467, 90 S.Ct. 661, 24 L.Ed.2d 653. Nor is it significant that the applicable law is established by a selective service regulation rather than by the statute. See Breen, supra, 396 U.S. at 467, 90 S.Ct. 661, 24 L.Ed.2d 653; Shea v. Mitchell, 421 F.2d 1162, 1165 (D.C.Cir. 1970).
Since the agreement of the parties clearly establishes the registrant’s right to a III-A fatherhood classification, I would reverse the judgment of dismissal and remand the case to the district court with direction to order the Board to afford him that classification. I therefore do not reach the important conflict presented by the opinions of Judge Aldisert and Judge Gibbons.
SEITZ and ADAMS, Circuit Judges, join in this opinion.
HASTIE, Chief Judge.
Section 1361 of title 28, United States Code, explicitly grants the district courts “original jurisdiction of any action in the nature of mandamus to compel * * * [any federal officer or agency] to perform a duty owed to the plaintiff.” Invoking the district court’s jurisdiction under that section, the com*1139plaint in this case includes a claim that the plaintiff is entitled to a peremptory writ of mandamus requiring federal officers, the members of the Selective Service Board, to perform a plain ministerial duty owed to him to reopen and consider anew his classification. When this controversy is considered as an invocation of jurisdiction under section 1361, I think some of the complications that have divided the court are avoided, or at least more easily resolved.
To begin with, I find no conflict between the above quoted grant of judicial power in section 1361 and the restrictive requirement of section 10(b) (3) of the Military Service Act of 1967 that no “judicial review shall be made of the classification or processing of any registrant * * * except as a defense to a criminal prosecution * * * ” 50 U.S.C. App. § 460(b) (3) (Supp. IV 1969). Conceptually, mandamus is not “judicial review.” To require a selective service board to perform a plain ministerial duty to reopen and consider anew what a registrant’s classification should be, is not to engage in “judicial review” of any classification. Rather, it is an exercise of a special and circumscribed power Congress has conferred upon the courts to protect the individual against arbitrary refusal to perform a public duty owed to the individual. Thus, I find it unnecessary to consider the interrelations of the Oestereich, Breen and Clark cases to which other members of the court have directed their attention. Oestereich v. Selective Service System Local Board, 1968, 393 U.S. 233, 89 S.Ct. 414, 21 L.Ed.2d 402; Breen v. Selective Service Local Board, 1970, 396 U.S. 460, 90 S.Ct. 661, 24 L.Ed.2d 653; Clark v. Gabriel, 1968, 393 U.S. 256, 89 S.Ct. 424, 21 L.Ed.2d 418.
It remains to consider whether the plaintiff in this case adequately asserts an arbitrary refusal to perform in the plaintiff’s interest such a duty as section 1361 contemplates. The complaint alleges that the board was under such a duty to reopen the registrant’s case and consider his status anew. If the registrant made a request for reclassification “accompanied by written information presenting facts not considered when the registrant was classified, which, if true, would justify a change in registrant’s classification,” 32 C.F.R. § 1625.2, reopening was mandatory. Full documentation of this proposition appears in Judge Gibbons’ opinion and need not be repeated here. However, it bears repeating that the Supreme Court has asserted that “[t] hough the language of 32 CFR § 1625.2 is permissive, it does not follow that a Board may arbitrarily refuse to reopen a registrant’s classification.” Mulloy v. United States, 1970, 398 U.S. 410, 415, 90 S.Ct. 1766, 1770, 26 L.Ed.2d 362. It is just such arbitrary refusal to act in a complainant’s interest that the present complaint asserts and section 1361 is designed to correct.
Thus it seems clear to me that if the district court had considered only the complaint, the granting of the motion to dismiss would have been error. But before acting on the motion, the court, sua sponte, suggested that the plaintiff disclose “what you are going to prove on the merits.” The plaintiff acquiesced and introduced into the record a number of letters from the files of the local board. I am not prepared to say that the court erred in considering these letters as if they had been incorporated in the complaint. However, the letters do not show that the registrant had failed to supply the board with new information “which, if true, would justify a change in the registrant’s classification,” 32 C.F.R. § 1625.2. They do show that the registrant requested a III-A reclassification because his wife was pregnant and his induction “would work a great deal of hardship on my wife and child.” In addition, the board was supplied with written statements of the registrant’s wife and her physician certifying her pregnancy and specifying serious physical and emotional disorders that she was experiencing. I do not see how it could reasonably be contended that these facts would not have “justified” reclassifica*1140tion upon the basis of extreme hardship, and no more than that is required to make reopening, with its attendant procedural rights, mandatory under 32 C.F.R. § 1625.2. Thus, the material submitted by the plaintiff amplified and in no way contradicted the allegations of his complaint.
Apart from the showing made by the registrant on his claim of extreme hardship, Judge Freedman has taken the position that the registrant’s representations to the board, if properly proved to be true, would have justified reclassification on the basis of fatherhood.1 My difficulty with this contention arises out of the fact that the registrant had been classified II-S, and 32 C.F.R. § 1622.30 explicitly precludes a deferment of a registrant on the basis of fatherhood after he has been classified II-S. There is a substantial question of interpretation, upon which reasonable men may differ, whether this restriction covers graduate, as well as undergraduate, II-S classifications. See Gregory v. Hershey, E.D.Mich.1969, 311 F.Supp. 1. Mandamus under Section 1361 should be confined strictly to arbitrary action and I am not prepared to say that the board’s reading of the regulation as covering every II-S classification was arbitrary, though upon judicial review, as distinguished from mandamus, that interpretation of the regulation might well be reversed as erroneous. Cf. Guffanti v. Hershey, S.D.N.Y.1969, 296 F.Supp. 553.
Accordingly, I vote to reverse the judgment and require a denial of the board’s motion to dismiss the complaint solely because the complaint, on its face and as supplemented, adequately asserts an arbitrary refusal to reopen to consider the registrant’s extreme hardship claim.

. The Mulloy case sheds light on the limited precedential value of Clark v. Gabriel for present purposes. It was, of course, a post-induction case. But in listing the authorities establishing the prima facie claim test for reopening a classification it included not only most of the post-induction cases listed hereinabove but also Justice (then Judge) Stewart’s own opinion in Townsend v. Zimmerman, supra, which is a pre-induction case. Mulloy v. United States, supra, 398 U.S. at 415 n. 6, 90 S.Ct. 1766, 26 L.Ed.2d 362. This reference to Townsend v. Zimmerman must be contrasted with the reference to the same case in Justice Stewart’s dissenting opinion in Oestereich v. Selective Service System Local Bd., 393 U.S. 233, 247 n. 4, 89 S.Ct. 414, 21 L.Ed.2d 402 (1968). There he noted that the enactment of § 10(b) (3) indicated specific congressional disapproval of exceptions such as Townsend v. Zimmerman to the rule against pre-induction judicial review laid down in Witmer v. United States, 348 U.S. 375, 377, 75 S.Ct. 392, 99 L.Ed. 428 (1955) ; Estep v. United States, 327 U.S. 114, 66 S.Ct. 423, 90 L.Ed. 567 (1946) ; Billings v. Truesdell, 321 U.S. 542, 64 S.Ct. 737, 88 L.Ed. 917 (1944), and Falbo v. United States, 320 U.S. 549, 64 S.Ct. 346, 88 L.Ed. 305 (1944). His dissenting view did not prevail and in Mulloy, for a unanimous court he cited Townsend v. Zimmerman approvingly. While I do not claim that this footnote reference was a binding precedent for the instant case, at the very least it negates any indication that Clark v. Gabriel overruled Townsend v. Zimmerman.

. In Boyd v. Clark, 393 U.S. 316, 89 S.Ct. 553, 21 L.Ed.2d 511 (1969), the Supreme Court also carefully avoided deciding whether the jurisdictional amount requirement of 28 U.S.C. § 1331 would bar judicial review in selective service cases. It has never, so far as I know, explicitly addressed itself to this issue, which has not been raised in this case, perhaps assuming as I do, and as Judge Hastie does, that 28 U.S.C. § 1361 is a sufficient jurisdictional basis in this and similar cases.

. See Oestereich v. Selective Service System Local Bd., 393 U.S. 233, 243 n. 6, 89 S.Ct. 414, 21 L.Ed.2d 402 (1968) (Harlan, J., concurring).

. In Ms concurring opinion in Oestereich v. Selective Service System Local Bd., supra, Justice Harlan noted that the opportunity for a hearing and administrative appeals prior to induction was one of the major considerations which impelled Congress to postpone judicial review. 393 U.S. at 240-241, 89 S.Ct. 414, 21 L.Ed.2d 402.

. See Gregory v. Hershey, 311 E.Supp. 1 (E.D.Mich.1969).

. Letter of Local Board No. 197, Appendix 23a.

. United States v. Turner, 421 F.2d 1251 (3 Cir. 1970).

. 50 U.S.O.App. § 460(b) (3).

. Mr. Justice Harlan, concurring in Breen, summarized the holdings in Breen and Oestereich, saying:
“The Court’s opinion here, as in Oestereich v. Selective Service [System Local] Bd., 393 U.S. 233 [89 S.Ct. 414, 21 L.Ed.2d 402] (1968), appears to make the availability of pre-induction review turn on the lawfulness of the draft board’s action or, to put it another way, on the certainty with which the reviewing court can determine that the registrant would prevail on the merits if there were such judicial review of his classification. * * * ” Breen, supra, 396 U.S. at 468, 90 S.Ct. at 666.

. If the physician’s representations concerning the wife’s pregnancy were less detailed than 32 C.F.R. § 1622.30 (c) (3) required, amplification could and should have been sought after reopening.