Davis v. Hershey

310 F. Supp. 565, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13804
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedAugust 18, 1969
DocketNo. 69-1062
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 310 F. Supp. 565 (Davis v. Hershey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis v. Hershey, 310 F. Supp. 565, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13804 (C.D. Cal. 1969).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

CURTIS, District Judge.

The plaintiffs here have raised the question of whether or not they have an absolute right to a I-S classification under the provisions of § 6(i) (2) of the Military Selective Service Act of 1967 [50 U.S.C.App. § 456(i) (2)J. They contend that they do, and in support thereof they seek an order enjoining their induction and directing defendants to reclassify them I-S.

[566]*566The facts are admitted. Plaintiffs are all graduate students, each of whom has been granted a II-S deferment as an undergraduate prior to June 30, 1967 (the effective date of the Act of 1967). None has received an undergraduate deferment since June 30, 1967, but each did receive a graduate II-S deferment for the academic year 1967-1968, which commenced after September 1, 1967. Plaintiffs have each been classified I-A and have been issued orders to report for induction beginning June 17, 1969, or thereafter, and each has requested and been denied a I-S deferment through the end of the present academic year, 1968-1969.

Plaintiffs claim jurisdiction under the provisions of Title 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question); 28 U.S.C. § 1361 (mandamus); 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201, 2202 (declaratory judgment).

It would appear that this court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 13611 for reasons set forth in Carey v. Local Board No. 2, 297 F.Supp. 252, Dist. of Conn. February 13, 1969, unless the action is barred by § 10(b) (3) of the Act. 50 U.S.C. App. § 460(b) (3). The applicable portions of this section provide that “no judicial review shall be made of the classification or processing of any registrant by local boards, appeal boards, or the President, except as a defense to a criminal prosecution, instituted under section 12 of this Title * * * after the registrant has responded either affirmatively or negatively to an order to report for induction * *

In Oestereich v. Selective Service System, 393 U.S. 233, 89 S.Ct. 414, 21 L.Ed. 2d 402, the Supreme Court held that § 10(b) (3) did not bar judicial review in a case where the local draft board refused to grant a divinity student statutory exemption. In Clark v. Gabriel, 393 U.S. 256, 89 S.Ct. 424, 21 L.Ed.2d 418, registrant sought to enjoin his induetion on the ground that his claim to conscientious objector classification was wrongfully refused. The district court enjoined his induction, but the Supreme Court reversed. It distinguished Oestereich, supra, by saying: (393 U.S. 256, 258, 89 S.Ct. 426)

“Oestereich, as a divinity student, was by statute unconditionally entitled to exemption. Here, by contrast, there is no doubt of the board’s statutory authority to take action which appellee challenges, and that action inescapably involves a determination of fact and an exercise of judgment. * * *
“ * * * To allow pre-induction judicial review of such determinations would be to permit precisely the kind of ‘litigious interruptions of procedures to provide necessary military manpower’ * * * which Congress sought to prevent when it enacted § 10(b) (3).”

Although the Government argues that Oestereich, supra, was concerned with a statutory exemption, where we are here concerned with a statutory deferment, this seems to be a distinction without a difference, for if the right to a deferment is absolute and local board has a statutory mandate to grant it, Oestereich teaches us that the action is not barred by § 10(b) (3). If, however, the granting of deferment is discretionary, § 10(b) (3) would control.

The question of jurisdiction here, then, depends upon the determination of the substantive question presented by the complaint.

Plaintiffs base their claim of statutory right on section 6(i) (2) of the Act, which provides that a person pursuing a full time course of instruction at a college, university or similar institution who is ordered to report for induction, shall, upon the facts being presented to the local board, be deferred (A) until the end of the academic year, or (B) until [567]*567he ceases to pursue such course of instruction, provided he does not come within one of several classes who are specifically excluded from such deferment. We will deal with only one of such excluded classes, and the pertinent portion of the section reads:

“Provided * * * any person who hereafter is deferred under the provisions of this subsection, shall not be further deferred by reason of pursuit of a course of instruction at a college, university, or similar institution of learning * * * except as may be provided by regulations prescribed by the President pursuant to the provisions of subsection (h) of this section.”

The basic question, therefore, is: Have plaintiffs’ graduate II-S deferments been granted under the provisions of § 6(i) (2), or some other section?

This issue has been raised in a number of cases decided in recent months, and the courts have been badly divided on the result. There is, however, impressive authority both ways.

This court, however, adopts the view that these plaintiffs have already received a § 6(i) (2) deferment and are, therefore, not entitled to a further deferment as a matter of statutory right. In arriving at this conclusion this court relies upon the reasoning in Rosenfield v. Selective Service System, 298 F.Supp. 276 (W.D.Pa.1969). The court held there that a registrant whose deferment status is the same as these plaintiffs is not entitled to a I-S classification as a matter of right, and consequently held that it had no jurisdiction in the face of § 10(b) (3). That court reasoned that the registrant, having received a graduate II-S deferment since June 30, 1967, had been deferred under the provisions of § 6(i) (2). Such a deferment is a § 6(i) (2) deferment because it was granted to the registrant under the President’s Executive Order 11,360 of July 4, 1967 [32 C.F.R. 1622-26(b)], which provides:

“ * * * Any registrant enrolled for his first year of post-baccalaureate study in a graduate school or a professional school on October 1, 1967 * * may be placed in Class II-S * * * and shall be deferred for one academic - year only * * * ”

The only statutory authority for this regulation appears in § 6(i) (2) which reads:

“Nothing in this paragraph shall be deemed to preclude the President from providing, by regulations prescribed under subsection (h) of this section, for the deferment from training and service in the Armed Forces * * * of any category or categories of students for such periods of time as he may deem appropriate.”

At this point the court in Rosenfield, swpra, said:

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Related

James R. Nestor v. Lewis B. Hershey
425 F.2d 504 (D.C. Circuit, 1969)

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Bluebook (online)
310 F. Supp. 565, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13804, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-hershey-cacd-1969.