Bradley v. Laird

315 F. Supp. 544, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12196
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedApril 6, 1970
DocketCiv. No. L-964
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 315 F. Supp. 544 (Bradley v. Laird) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bradley v. Laird, 315 F. Supp. 544, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12196 (D. Kan. 1970).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

TEMPLAR, District Judge.

This is a habeas corpus proceeding instituted by petitioner to obtain his release from custody in which he is now held by the Military Authorities of the United States within the jurisdiction of this Court.

Petitioner had been given a student deferment by his Local Draft Board and had been classified II-S in 1966. In April 1968, petitioner, undertaking to express a protest or objection to the United States foreign and military policy in Vietnam, with others, mailed his draft card in an envelope addressed to the Attorney General, Washington, D.C.

Thereafter, on August 28, 1968, his Local Board was made aware of the fact that petitioner had sent his draft card to the Attorney General, and on September 26, 1968, he was reclassified from II-S to I-A by the Draft Board, after the Board had declared him delinquent because “registrant has turned in registration certificate SSS Form 2.”

The action of the Board was consistent with a Local Board Memorandum issued by the Director on October 24, 1967, in which under such circumstances the Board was directed to “reclassify [545]*545the registrant into a class available for service as a delinquent.”

Though it appears that the Board could have reclassified petitioner I-A on other grounds, it obviously did not do so and the record shows conclusively that his classification was based on the finding that he had “turned in his registration certificate.”

Respondent urges the Court to dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction and because the record demonstrates that petitioner was subject to be reclassified and inducted in any event, and, therefore, suffered no prejudice. Though petitioner could have been inducted had other procedures been followed, the case falls squarely under that rule laid down in Oestereich v. Selective Service System Local Board No. 11, 393 U.S. 233, 236, 237, 89 S.Ct. 414, 21 L.Ed.2d 402, which held that similar action by a Draft Board was basically lawless, and in Gutknecht v. United States, 396 U.S. 295, 90 S.Ct. 506, 24 L.Ed.2d 532 (1970), which held in effect that delinquency regulations could not be utilized for the purpose of applying sanctions apart from authorized criminal prosecutions.

As to jurisdiction, the Court reads Breen v. Selective Service Local Board No. 16, 396 U.S. 460, 90 S.Ct. 661, 24 L.Ed.2d 653 (1970), as an answer to this contention. There, an inductee challenged his order for induction on the ground that his delinquency reclassification was invalid. He had taken an appeal from the order reclassifying him and the court action was filed and the case heard pending the appeal. Jurisdiction of the court was sustained on the basis that the induction was unlawful. It would be strange if a court could entertain an action while an inductee had an appeal pending and could not have jurisdiction in a situation where no appeal is pending.

Though the actions of petitioner may very well be subject to criminal prosecution, this Court must follow the clear declarations of the Supreme Court.

The Court, following an evidentiary hearing, took the case under advisement, received briefs and additional documentary evidence, all of which the Court has carefully examined and considered. From the evidence submitted, the stipulations of the parties and admissions of record, the Court, upon being fully advised in the premises, makes the following

FINDINGS OF FACT:

1. Petitioner was born on the 3rd day of July, 1948, and was approximately the 242nd male to register with Local Board No. 82, Scranton, Pennsylvania, during the calendar year 1966; that the petitioner is 21 years and 8 months of age; that he is presently in the custody of the respondents at the United States Army Correctional Training Facility at Fort Riley, Kansas.

2. The petitioner registered with Selective Service Local Board No. 82, Scranton, Pennsylvania on the 5th day of July, 1966, and was, on the 23rd day of September, 1966, classified I-A by the unanimous vote of the Local Board, and that the members voting constituted a quorum of the Local Board; and petitioner was mailed a notice of his classification on the same day.

3. On the 6th day of October, 1966, the petitioner’s Local Board received a letter from the petitioner in which the petitioner requested an undergraduate student deferment (Respondent’s Exhibit “B”); and that thereafter, on the 7th day of October, 1966, the petitioner’s Local Board received a form which had been superseded by SSS Form 109, but which was then an equivalent, to the present SSS Form 109; that the said student certificate indicated that the beginning date for the petitioner’s school year was the 19th day of September, 1966, that the school year would end in June of 1967, and that the date the petitioner would receive his baccalaureate degree would be in 1970; that thereafter, on the 21st day of October, 1966, the petitioner was classified II-S by the unanimous vote of the Local Board, and that [546]*546the members voting constituted a quorum of the said Local Board; that thereafter, on the 3rd day of November, 1966, said Local Board mailed to the petitioner a notification of classification (SSS Form 110) notifying the petitioner that he had been classified II — S; that the said Form 110 contains a brief notice of the registrant’s right to personal appearance and appeal before the local board and further advised the registrant that he was required to notify his Local Board in writing within ten days of every change in the registrant’s address, physical condition and occupation (including student), marital, family, dependency and military status, and as to any other fact which might change his classification.

4. On the 21st day of August, 1967, the said Local Board received an undergraduate college student certificate (Respondents’ Exhibit “D”), which indicated that the petitioner completed one year of undergraduate study on the 5th day of June, 1967; that he finished the year in the upper three-fourths of his class; and that he would receive his baccalaureate degree in 1970.

5. Thereafter, the petitioner requested deferment as an undergraduate student on SSS Form 104, which was received by his Local Board on September 27, 1967; the said request for undergraduate student deferment was acted upon by the petitioner’s Local Board on the 27th day of November, 1967, by the unanimous vote of the Local Board, and that the members voting constituted a quorum of the Local Board; that he was thereafter mailed a notice of his classification by the said Local Board on the 6th day of December, 1967, and that at no time thereafter did the registrant submit to or provide the Board with verification of his undergraduate status nor did he advise the Board that he had changed his residence as required by the selective service regulations and as set forth on SSS Form 110.

6. On August 28, 1968, petitioner’s Local Board received a copy of a letter dated August 22, 1968, addressed to Brigadier General Henry M. Gross, Pennsylvania State Director of Selective Service, and signed by Joe D.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
315 F. Supp. 544, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12196, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bradley-v-laird-ksd-1970.