United States ex rel. Tomback v. Bullock

110 F. Supp. 698, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3145
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 3, 1953
DocketNo. 52 C 2567
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 110 F. Supp. 698 (United States ex rel. Tomback v. Bullock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States ex rel. Tomback v. Bullock, 110 F. Supp. 698, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3145 (N.D. Ill. 1953).

Opinion

CAMPBELL, District Judge.

' Petitioner alleges that he was unlawfully inducted into the Army of the United States, and that he is now unlawfully restrained of his liberty by respondent, the Commanding Officer of Fort Sheridan, Illinois. He seeks release through a writ of habeas corpus. The parties stipulated that the facts contained in petitioner’s Selective Service System file are true, and the cause was taken under advisement by the court.

I. Findings of Fact

The following sequence of events is disclosed by documents contained in the files of the Selective Service System:

1. On December 28, 1950, petitioner answered and signed a Selective Service Classification Questionnaire (Form 100), wherein he stated that he had never been married, and that no persons were wholly or partially dependent upon him for support. He further stated that he had been treated by physicians for 'a “nervous and anemia condition,” and for a condition of “palpitation — hot flushes.”

2. On January 5, 1951; petitioner submitted to his Local Board a sworn statement from a physician, who wrote that petitioner “has considerable vasomotor instability as evidenced" by palpitation, hot flushes of face and neck accompanied by general weakness. He, also, has a slight anemia.”

3. On March 22, 1951, petitioner was placed in classification 1-A.

4. On December 3, 1951, petitioner was ordered by Local Board 59 to report for an armed forces physical examination on December- 11, 1951.

5. On December 6, 1951, petitioner’s mother submitted a sworn statement from a physician to the Local Board. The physician described defects in petitioner’s vision, and stated: “I do not recommend military duty for this patient.”

6. On December 11, 1951, petitioner reported for the armed forces physical examination. The examiners concluded that petitioner was qualified for military service.

7. On December 13,1951, petitioner submitted a sworn statement from another physician, who wrote that petitioner “is an extremely nervous individual, that all of his complaints such as flushes and migraine headaches are all due to an extreme psychoneurotic tendency.”

8. On May 29, 1952, petitioner informed the Local Board that he had recently been married.

9. On August 29, 1952, the Local Board ordered petitioner to report for induction on September 15, 1952.

10. On September 2, 1952, petitioner wrote to his Local Board:

“I am in receipt today of a draft induction notice for September 15, 1952. This notice came to me at a time when I was about to write to you to inform you of my wife’s pregnant condition.
“I first found out about this condition when she was examined by a physician on Friday evening, August 29, 1952.
******
[700]*700“I am writing this letter to appeal this induction notice and to request a 3F classification for this reason.
“Perhaps technically an induction notice is the final word but I could not communicate with you any sooner after I discovered my wife’s condition.
“I beg of you gentlemen to reconsider my case. I shall be happy to present you with the physician’s statement at any time you request.”

11. On September 5, and again on September 8, 1952, petitioner submitted statements from a physician attesting to the pregnancy of petitioner’s wife.

12. ■ On September 4, 1952, petitioner’s father wrote to the Local Board, stating, in essence, that he would be unable to care for petitioner’s wife if petitioner were inducted, and that petitioner’s mother was not in good health. On the same date, petitioner’s father-in-law wrote to the Local Board, stating that he was in poor health, and that he would be unable to care for petitioner’s wife if petitioner were inducted.

13. On September 11, 1952, the Local Board recommended “that permission be granted from State Director to reopen this case in order to fully consider conflicting evidence of wife [sic] pregnancy in order that injustice may not be rendered to registrant,” and on September 12, 1952, the Local Board transmitted petitioner’s file to the State Director of Selective Service at Chicago, Illinois. On the latter date, the time for petitioner’s induction into the armed forces was postponed until October 13, 1952.

14. On September 19, 1952, and on a subsequent date, the Local Board, acting under the direction of the State Director, requested petitioner and his near relatives to submit “Statements of Dependency,” together with affidavits from persons who were familiar with petitioner’s financial situation. Petitioner submitted the requested statements and affidavits shortly thereafter.

15. On October 3, 1952, all such statements and affidavits together with petitioner’s complete Selective Service file, were sent by the Local Board to the State Director.

16. On October 16, 1952, the State Director returned the file to the Local Board, and stated:

“After reviewing this file * * * it is the decision of this Headquarters that the local board’s request to reopen this case be denied.
“There is no conclusive evidence presented that extreme hardship and privation would occur through the registrant’s induction, and in view of the dependency allotment available the local board will include this subject on their first induction call after 31 October 1952.”

17. On November 12, 1952, petitioner was ordered to report for induction on November 28, 1952. Petitioner was inducted into the Army on that date.

II. The Petition

From this series of stipulated facts, petitioner has extracted certain events which he urges are material to the validity of his induction. The petition recites these events, and alleges that, when considered with certain regulations of the Selective Service System, they show a violation of procedural and substantive rights guaranteed to petitioner by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

The petition alleges that petitioner was married on May 8, 1952, subsequent to his classification in Class 1-A by the Local Board, and that he notified the Local Board of his marriage on May 27, 1952; that from the date of his marriage to the date of his induction, petitioner maintained a bona fide family relationship with his wife; that on September 5, 1952, a physician found his wife to be pregnant, and that, on that date, the physician issued a certificate to that effect; and that on August 29, 1952, the Local Board mailed a notice of induction to petitioner.

The petition then recites Selective Service Regulation 1625.3, which states:

“(a) The local board shall reopen and consider anew the classification of a registrant upon the written request of the State Director of Selective Service or the Director of Selective Service and upon receipt of such request shall [701]*701immediately cancel any Order to Report for Induction (SSS Form No. 252) ■which may have been issued to the registrant.”

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Bluebook (online)
110 F. Supp. 698, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3145, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-ex-rel-tomback-v-bullock-ilnd-1953.