John Henry Hacker v. United States

Ninth Circuit

John Henry Hacker v. United States

215 F.2d 575, 1954 U.S. App. LEXIS 2861

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

DecidedSeptember 15, 1954

Docket14072_1

StatusPublished

Cited by11 cases

This text of 215 F.2d 575 (John Henry Hacker 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.

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John Henry Hacker v. United States, 215 F.2d 575, 1954 U.S. App. LEXIS 2861 (9th Cir. 1954).

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Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Hacker appeals from a judgment of conviction of refusal to submit to induction contrary' to the provisions of the Universal Military Training and Service Act, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 451 et seq. The facts in his case cannot be distinguished from those in Dickenson v. United States, 346 U.S. 389,. 74 S.Ct. 152. In the questionnaire filed with his local draft board he claimed classification as a minister of religion. He furnished the board a number of documents and affidavits tending to support this claim. Among these was a certificate of the Superintendent of Ministers and Evangelists of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society that he was an ordained minister of that society, in the full-time ministry as a “pioneer”, and authorized to perform all the usual rites and ceremonies of Jehovah’s Witnesses. There was also an affidavit of all the members of his congregation that he was its only full-time minister. He disclosed that he had -a part-time secular job, driving a school .bus. This averaged about fifteen hours a week, and paid him only $640.40 per year. This work was done early in the mornings and late in the afternoons, and .extended only during the school months. However, he showed that he spent much time’in “missionary work”, making calls, in addition to his ministerial work preaching to his own congregation. His showing was that he was one of the few Jehovah’s Witnesses engaged in preaching full time. There was no evidence to the contrary.

We therefore hold, on the authority of the Dickenson case, that the denial of a ministerial exemption to appellant was without basis in fact.

The judgment is reversed.

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PER CURIAM.

Hacker appeals from a judgment of conviction of refusal to submit to induction contrary' to the provisions of the Universal Military Training and Service Act, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 451 et seq. The facts in his case cannot be distinguished from those in Dickenson v. United States, 346 U.S. 389,. 74 S.Ct. 152. In the questionnaire filed with his local draft board he claimed classification as a minister of religion. He furnished the board a number of documents and affidavits tending to support this claim. Among these was a certificate of the Superintendent of Ministers and Evangelists of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society that he was an ordained minister of that society, in the full-time ministry as a “pioneer”, and authorized to perform all the usual rites and ceremonies of Jehovah’s Witnesses. There was also an affidavit of all the members of his congregation that he was its only full-time minister. He disclosed that he had -a part-time secular job, driving a school .bus. This averaged about fifteen hours a week, and paid him only $640.40 per year. This work was done early in the mornings and late in the afternoons, and .extended only during the school months. However, he showed that he spent much time’in “missionary work”, making calls, in addition to his ministerial work preaching to his own congregation. His showing was that he was one of the few Jehovah’s Witnesses engaged in preaching full time. There was no evidence to the contrary.

We therefore hold, on the authority of the Dickenson case, that the denial of a ministerial exemption to appellant was without basis in fact.

The judgment is reversed.

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215 F.2d 575, 1954 U.S. App. LEXIS 2861, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/john-henry-hacker-v-united-states-ca9-1954.

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