Falcon v. Selective Service System, Local Board 169

319 F. Supp. 1355, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10634
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 7, 1970
DocketCiv. A. No. 70-831
StatusPublished

This text of 319 F. Supp. 1355 (Falcon v. Selective Service System, Local Board 169) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Falcon v. Selective Service System, Local Board 169, 319 F. Supp. 1355, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10634 (W.D. Pa. 1970).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GOURLEY, District Judge.

In this civil action, plaintiff, a registrant of Local Board No. 169, Greens-burg, Pennsylvania, seeks to enjoin his induction into the Armed Services of the United States. Jurisdiction of the Court is invoked under §§ 1331, 1361, 2201 and 2202 of Title 28 of the United States Code. A Complaint and Motion for Preliminary Injunction was filed on July 15, 1970, and a hearing was conducted by this member of the Court on July 21, 1970 upon the Motion. Prior to the hearing, the parties entered into a Stipulation of Facts, attaching thereto a copy of registrant’s Selective Service file, and filed the same with the Court. Upon consideration of the pleadings, Stipulation of Facts, briefs and arguments of counsel and the evidence offered at the hearing, the Court concludes that the Motion must be denied.

The operative facts can be briefly stated. Plaintiff enjoyed the benefits of a II-S student deferment until October 27, 1969, which deferment enabled him to complete his graduate education from the Duquesne University School of Law in June of 1969. He was classified I-A on October 27, 1969. On June 18, 1970, plaintiff was ordered to report for induction on July 21, 1970. Plaintiff was born on July 18, 1944 and reached the twenty-sixth anniversary of his date of birth on July 18, 1970. Thus, plaintiff, by an Order of Local Board No. 169 issued prior to his twenty-sixth birthday, was directed to report for induction on a day subsequent to his attaining the age of twenty-six.

The sole issue presented is whether Local Board No. 169 has acted within the authority of the Military Selective Service Act of 1967, 50 U.S.C. App. § 451 et. seq. It is plaintiff’s contention that 50 U.S.C. App. § 454(a) prohibits the Local Board from ordering plaintiff to report for induction at a time subsequent to his attaining twenty-six years of age.

Congress has provided in 50 U.S.C. App. § 454(a), in pertinent part, as follows:

“Except as otherwise provided in this title (Sections 451, 453, 454, 455, 456 and 458-47Í of this Appendix), every male citizen of the United States * * * who is between the ages of [1356]*135618 years and 6 months and 26 years, at the time fixed for his registration * * * or who is otherwise liable as provided in Section 6(h) of this title (Section 456(h) of this Appendix), shall be liable for training and service in the Armed Forces of the United States: * * *”
* * * * * *
“No person, without his consent, shall be inducted for training and service in the Armed Forces or for training in the National Security Training Corps under this title (Sections 451, 453, 454, 455, 456 and 458-471 of this Appendix), except as otherwise provided herein, after he has attained the twenty-sixth anniversary of the day of his birth.” (Emphasis added.)

In contending that paragraph (a) of Section 454 renders nugatory plaintiff’s order to report for induction on July 21, 1970, after he had attained the age of twenty-six, plaintiff overlooks the exceptions to which paragraph (a) refers, particularly the exception contained in 50 U.S.C. App. § 456.

In paragraph (h) of § 456, 50 U.S.C. App. § 456(h), Congress provides for the deferment of students, subject to a proviso. Section 456(h) provides in pertinent part:

“(h) (1) * * * the President shall, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, provide for the deferment from training and service in the Armed Forces of persons satisfactorily pursuing a full-time course of instruction at a college, university, or similar institution of learning and who request such deferment. * * ”
* * * * * *
“(h) (2) * * * Provided further, That persons who are or may be deferred under the provisions of this section shall remain liable for training and service in the Armed Forces under the provisions of section 4(a) of this Act [section 454(a) of this Appendix] until the thirty-fifth anniversary of the date of their birth. * * * »

In Kaline v. United States, 235 F.2d 54 (9th Cir. 1956), the Court considered the question of whether a registrant who had been afforded a deferment pursuant to § 456(h) but whose deferred status ceased before he reached age twenty-six was subject to extended liability by virtue of said prior deferred status. After an exhaustive analysis of the Statute and the Congressional Record at pps. 62-65, the Court determined that the sense of Congress, at the time § 456(h) was enacted, was that a man who enjoys the benefit of a deferment should remain liable for training and service until age thirty-five. On this basis the Court held that the liability of the registrant was extended to age thirty-five notwithstanding the fact that his deferred status ceased before his twenty-sixth birthday. Accordingly, the Court found that the Order of the Local Board issued when the registrant was twenty-seven years of age and directing him to report for induction at said age was authorized by the Statute.

In a case before the Court of Appeals for the Third Judicial Circuit, United States ex rel. McCarthy v. Cook, 225 F.2d 71 (3d Cir. 1955), appellant claimed that, as his II-S student deferred status had been terminated by the Local Board prior to his attaining age twenty-six, his liability for training and service was not extended. The Court rejected this theory out of hand, reasoning that appellant clearly had been deferred under provision of § 456(h) of the Act and, under these circumstances remained liable for induction after age twenty-six. In the Cook case, the II-S deferment of appellant was terminated prior to his twenty-sixth birthday, he was ordered to report for induction prior to his twenty-sixth birthday, and he was inducted subsequent thereto. The material facts of the instant case are analogous.

In the most recent case in which the effect of deferred status upon extended liability for service has been considered, the Court held that authority to call up persons between age twenty-six and thir[1357]*1357ty-five applied to all persons deferred under the provision of § 456 of the Act. United States v. Brown, 290 F.Supp. 542 (D. Delaware, 1968). In this case, the defendant claimed that extended liability applied only to those persons deferred by virtue of their activities necessary to health, safety or national interest, which would have excluded him as he had been deferred under Class III-A (dependents). However, after considering the Conference Report which preceded the enactment of the “And provided further” clause of § 456(h) and the legislative history as reviewed in Kaline, supra, the Court stated at p. 548:

“* * * that Congress intended by the proviso to make all persons liable for service until age thirty-five who were or would be deferred from induction. The language of the proviso itself likewise supports this conclusion. It states that ‘persons’ without limitations, deferred under ‘this section’ shall be subject to military service until age thirty-five. The only ‘section’ referred to is section 456. By the express terms of the proviso all persons deferred under section 456 are, without exception, made liable for service until age thirty-five.”

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Related

Gutknecht v. United States
396 U.S. 295 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Breen v. Selective Service Local Board No. 16
396 U.S. 460 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Nick John Kaline v. United States
235 F.2d 54 (Ninth Circuit, 1956)
United States v. Brown
290 F. Supp. 542 (D. Delaware, 1968)
United States ex rel. McCarthy v. Cook
225 F.2d 71 (Third Circuit, 1955)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
319 F. Supp. 1355, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/falcon-v-selective-service-system-local-board-169-pawd-1970.