Staughton Lynd v. Dean Rusk, Secretary of State, Jane Wittman v. Secretary of State

389 F.2d 940, 128 U.S. App. D.C. 399, 1967 U.S. App. LEXIS 4092
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedDecember 20, 1967
Docket20790_1
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 389 F.2d 940 (Staughton Lynd v. Dean Rusk, Secretary of State, Jane Wittman v. Secretary of State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Staughton Lynd v. Dean Rusk, Secretary of State, Jane Wittman v. Secretary of State, 389 F.2d 940, 128 U.S. App. D.C. 399, 1967 U.S. App. LEXIS 4092 (D.C. Cir. 1967).

Opinion

LEVENTHAL, Circuit Judge:

The present cases raise the question whether and to what extent the Secretary of State may enforce compliance with area restrictions on foreign travel, following his determination that travel by United States citizens to five designated countries — China, Cuba, North Korea, North Vietnam, and Syria — would be inimical to the nation’s foreign relations. 1

In Zemel v. Rusk, 381 U.S. 1, 85 S.Ct. 1271, 14 L.Ed.2d 179 (1965), the Supreme Court held that the Passport Act of 1926, 22 U.S.C. § 211a (1964), 2 authorizes the Secretary to make such a determination and to restrict the validity of United States passports for travel in these countries. United States v. Laub, 385 U.S. 475, 87 S.Ct. 574, 17 L.Ed.2d *942 526 (1967), however, held that travel to these forbidden places without a specially validated passport has not been made a criminal offense by Congress.

The question that remains is whether the Secretary may withhold or revoke a passport if the person declines to give assurances that he will not travel to the designated areas.

Congress has not given the Secretary any power to proscribe travel. His power is limited to controlling the issuance of passports and granting of diplomatic facilities. However we must recognize, as the Supreme Court did in Zemel, that denial of a passport has the undoubted practical consequence of effectively limiting travel. This may also be a legal consequence, since Section 215(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1185(b) (1964), which is operative because of the Presidentially declared national emergency, 3 makes it a crime to leave the country without a passport— except for travel to certain areas not within the ambit of appellants’ cases. 4 Taking account of these consequences and the constitutional dimension of the right to travel, the Secretary’s power over passports must be construed in such a way as to minimize interference with legitimate travel.

^Appellant Lynd’s difficulties with the Passport Office arise out of his January 1966 self-styled “fact-finding and investigating” mission to North Vietnam to “clarify the negotiating position of the other side.” He obtained a North Vietnamese visa in Czechoslovakia. Appellant Wittman, in an earlier and more modest venture, visited Cuba in 1964 with a group of American students. One of her goals was “to study the educational system.” On their respective returns to the United States each appellant was informed that his passport had been “tentatively withdrawn.” They individually pursued administrative remedies within the Passport Office, and hearings were held.

At Lynd’s hearing two questions of chief importance were posed. He was asked:

If you are issued a passport, will you use the passport issued to you to travel in violation of the conditions or restrictions contained therein, or any subsequent restrictions imposed upon the use of the passport by the United States Government acting through the Secretary of State or other responsible official?

Lynd replied: “My answer to that question is no.” He was then asked this question, which was put forward as embodying a “subtle difference.”

If you are issued a passport will you travel in violation of the restrictions or conditions contained in the passport, or any subsequent restrictions or conditions imposed upon the travel of a United States citizen by the United States Government acting through the Secretary of State or other responsible official with or without using the passport?

Lynd’s answer was that he agreed not to use the passport in areas restricted by the Secretary, but reserved the right to travel to those areas without using a passport. 5

The record makes clear that the Secretary’s action was based on Lynd’s refusal to give a categorical “no” reply to this second question, phrased as a failure to provide assurances that he would not again violate area restrictions *943 in his passport. Miss Wittman was asked similar questions. It suffices here to say that she refused to give any assurances as to her travel “with or without a passport.” The hearing officer recommended final withdrawal of their passports pursuant to a regulation, since revoked, which authorized refusal of passport facilities on a finding that the traveler’s “activities abroad would * * * (b) be prejudicial to the orderly conduct of foreign relations; or (c) otherwise be prejudicial to the interests of the United States,” 27 Fed.Reg. 344 (1962), formerly codified as 22 C.F.R. 51.136 (1965). This recommendation and accompanying findings were adopted by the Director of the Passport Office, and subsequently this decision was upheld by the Secretary 6 following an appeal to the Board of Passport Appeals. Suits were brought for injunctions against the Secretary’s revocation of the passports and for declaratory relief. Summary judgment was granted to defendant in both cases.

I

We begin our consideration of the issues by taking note of the complication that the regulation pursuant to which the Secretary acted has been withdrawn, and more narrowly drafted provisions substituted in its stead. These new regulations specifically provide that someone who has traveled “to, in, or through a restricted country or area without a passport specifically validated for such travel” may be subject to a passport revocation proceeding and may be refused a new passport “until such time as the Secretary receives formal assurance and is satisfied that the person will not again travel in violation of the travel restrictions.” 31 Fed.Reg. 13544, October 20, 1966, codified as 22 C.F.R. § 51.74 (1967). Appellant Lynd, while recognizing that the new regulations are narrower, has mounted an extensive attack on the old regulation, arguing that it was both unconstitutionally vague and unauthorized by statute. We see little point in providing an academic ruling on the vagueness of the rescinded regulation. In view of the refusal to give “assurance” there is no basis for suggesting that the result would be different if the case were reconsidered under the new regulation. 7 No substantial rights are being disregarded for, as appellant Lynd concedes (Brief, p. 19 n.

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389 F.2d 940, 128 U.S. App. D.C. 399, 1967 U.S. App. LEXIS 4092, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/staughton-lynd-v-dean-rusk-secretary-of-state-jane-wittman-v-secretary-cadc-1967.