Bagley v. United States

144 F.2d 788, 1944 U.S. App. LEXIS 2932
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJune 14, 1944
DocketNo. 10574
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 144 F.2d 788 (Bagley v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bagley v. United States, 144 F.2d 788, 1944 U.S. App. LEXIS 2932 (9th Cir. 1944).

Opinion

STEPHENS, Circuit Judge.

Jack W. Bagley was convicted in the district court of knowingly and feloniously failing to comply with the order of the Selective Training and Service Board to report for induction into the armed services of the United States (Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, 54 Stat. 885, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, §§ 301-318, specifically § 311). He appeals from the judgment.

It is agreed that the order to report for induction was made and that he has not complied therewith. At the trial he claimed, and he makes the same claim here, that he “had not received a hearing by the Hearing [789]*789Officer such as the law granted him.” Specifically, he claims that the order is void and, therefore, no order at all; that the Hearing Officer refused to inform the registrant, who was claiming to be a conscientious objector, as to the general nature and character of any evidence unfavorable to him; that the Hearing Officer misled the registrant by advising him that there was no evidence against him, after which the Hearing Officer based his adverse ruling upon evidence which he had notwithstanding his statement to the registrant. The latter further claimed that he was not given “a personal hearing by a local Draft Board,” and at the trial written proposals of instructions, pertinent to such alleged defenses, were furnished the court with the request that they be given the jury. The court refused to give the proffered instructions, to which ruling exceptions were duly taken.

One of the first cases, if not the very first one, to reach an appellate court upon the subject of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 was a case before us entitled Local Draft Board v. Connors, 9 Cir., 124 F.2d 388. Therein we said, 124 F.2d at page 390:

“It is within the congressional power to call everyone to the colors. No one under the jurisdiction of the sovereign nation, whatever his or her status, is exempt except by the grace of the government. In enacting the Selective Service measure Congress made specific exemptions, and, as well, prescribed certain classifications within which exemptions and deferments may be granted. It provided * * * for the selection of men ‘in an impartial manner, under such rules and regulations as the President may prescribe, from the men who are liable for such training and service and who at the time of selection are registered and classified but not deferred or exempted’ under Section 305 of the Act. The Regulations provide for classification (Regs. § XVIII), for an appearance before the Local Board (Regs. § XXVI), for an appeal to the Board of Appeal (Regs. § XXVII) and for an appeal in certain limited circumstances to the President (Regs. § XXVIII). Nowhere in the Act or in other statute is the District Court given specific authority over or concerning it. The Board’s decision, under the limited appeal provided to a special Appeal Board and to the President is by the Act expressly made final.”

The point was immediately before us as to whether we should decide the case upon our conclusion that the complaint stated no cause of action, assuming that the district court had jurisdiction of the subject matter, or whether we should first decide the jurisdictional question. As to this point we said, 124 F.2d at page 391:

“If we take the latter course we shall necessarily decide whether or not the District Court has any jurisdiction whatever in a case arising under the Selective Service Act other than by way of habeas corpus. We think it better not to do this where as in this case the broader question has not been satisfactorily explored in argument.”

Thereafter, the point reached the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Falbo v. United States, 320 U.S. 549, 64 S.Ct. 346, and, as we understand it, that case holds squarely against the premise that federal courts have any jurisdiction to review draft board orders except in independent proceedings wherein “due process” is the subject of inquiry.

Counsel for appellant frankly states that unless the instant case can be distinguished from the Falbo case, we must affirm. In argument he says : “The narrow- claim asserted is that the denial to a registrant of procedural due process by a Selective Service Agency renders its order void; and its invalidity may be asserted in a defense to a criminal prosecution under the Selective Training and Service Act.” Appellant argues that the Falbo case merely concerns an erroneous classification of the registrant, while in the instant case an entire procedural step required by the act has been omitted. As stated by appellant in his opening brief: “It is the defendant’s [appellant’s] claim that when he was denied a hearing of the character and scope promised him by the law he was given no hearing and having been given no hearing, he was denied ‘due process.’ ” [Emphasis added.] He concludes that the evidence introduced in appellant’s trial in the district court supports his claim that “due process” was not accorded appellant and that therefore the court committed reversible error by refusing to give the proffered instructions.

We think the position of appellant is untenable. He first admits that there was a hearing and concludes from the manner of the hearing that it was no hearing at all. His theory unjustifiably assumes the juris[790]*790diction of the court to inquire into the regularity of the Board’s order. Appellant’s position is also untenable for the reason that the Falbo case precludes such inquiry since it is decided upon a principie applying as well to the facts of the instant case as to the facts of that case.

In the Falbo case the registrant, appellant in the circuit court [quoting from Falbo opinion, 320 U.S. at page 551, 64 S.Ct. at page 347], “* * * urged that the District Court had erred in refusing to permit a trial de novo on the merits of his claimed exemption. In the alternative, he argued that at least the Court should have reviewed the classification order to ascertain whether the local board had been ‘prejudicial, unfair, and arbitrary’ in that it had failed to admit certain evidence which he offered, had acted on the basis of an antipathy to the religious sect of which he is a member, and had refused to classify him as a minister against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.”

It seems to us that if the order in the Falbo case would not cease to be an order upon the showing that it was based upon “antipathy” to appellant’s religious sect, then by parity of reasoning the order in our case would not cease to be an order upon the showing suggested. The Supreme Court took no note of the theory advanced by appellant and went directly to the heart of the question. It said [320 U.S. at page 554, 64 S.Ct. at page 348, of the opinion]: “Even if there were, as the petitioner argues, a constitutional requirement that judicial review must be available to test the validity of the decision of the local board, it is certain that Congress was not required to provide for judicial intervention before final acceptance of an individual for national service. The narrow question therefore presented by this case, is whether Congress has authorized judicial review of the propriety of a board’s classification in a criminal prosecution for wilful violation of an order directing a registrant to report for the last step in the selective process.” [See Billings v.

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Bluebook (online)
144 F.2d 788, 1944 U.S. App. LEXIS 2932, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bagley-v-united-states-ca9-1944.