Gutknecht v. United States/Opinion of the Court

This case presents an important question under the Military Selective Service Act of 1967, 62 Stat. 604, as amended, 65 Stat. 75, 81 Stat. 100.

Petitioner registered with his Selective Service Local Board and was classified I-A. Shortly thereafter he received a II-S (student) classification. In a little over a year he notified the Board that he was no longer a student and was classified I-A. Meanwhile he had asked for an exemption as a conscientious objector. The Board denied that exemption, reclassifying him as I-A, and he appealed to the State Board. While that appeal was pending, he surrendered his registration certificate and notice of classification by leaving them on the steps of the Federal Building in Minneapolis with a statement explaining he was opposed to the war in Vietnam. That was on October 16, 1967. On November 22, 1967, his appeal to the State Board was denied. On November 27, 1967, he was notified that he was I-A.

On December 20, 1967, he was declared delinquent by the local board. On December 26, 1967, he was ordered to report for induction on January 24, 1968. He reported at the induction center, but in his case the normal procedure of induction was not followed. Rather, he signed a statement, 'I refuse to take part, or all, (sic) of the prescribed processing.' Thereafter he was indicted for wilfully and knowingly failing and neglecting 'to perform a duty required of him' under the Act. He was tried without a jury, found guilty, and sentenced to four years' imprisonment. United States v. Gutknecht, D.C., 283 F.Supp. 945. His conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals, 8 Cir., 406 F.2d 494. The case is here on a petition for a writ of certiorari, 394 U.S. 997, 89 S.Ct. 1595, 22 L.Ed.2d 775.

* Among the defenses tendered at the trial was the legality of the delinquency regulations which were applied to petitioner. It is that single question which we will consider.

By the regulations promulgated under the Act a local board may declare a registrant to be a 'delinquent' whenever he

'has failed to perform any duty or duties required of him     under the selective service law other than the duty to comply      with an Order to Report for Induction (SSS Form No. 252) or      the duty to comply with an Order to Report for Civilian Work and Statement      of Employer (SSS Form No. 153). * *  * ' 32 CFR § 1642.4.

In this case, petitioner was declared a delinquent for failing to have his registration certificate (SSS Form No. 2) and current classification notice (SSS Form No. 110) in his personal possession at all times, as required by 32 CFR §§ 1617.1 and 1623.5 respectively.

The consequences of being declared a delinquent under § 1642.4 are of two types: (1) Registrants who have deferments or exemptions may be reclassified in one of the classes available for service, I-A, I-A-O, or I-O, whichever is deemed applicable. 32 CFR § 1642.12. (2) Registrants who are already classified I-A, I-A O, or I-O, and those who are reclassified to such a status, will be given first priority in the order of call for induction, requiring them to be called even ahead of volunteers for induction. 32 CFR § 1642.13. The latter consequence deprives the registrant of his previous standing in the order of call as set out in 32 CFR § 1631.7.

The order-of-call provision in use when petitioner was declared 'delinquent' is set out in 32 CFR § 1631.7(a). The provision lists, in order, six categories of registrants and provides that the registrants shall be selected and ordered to report for induction according to the order of those categories. The first category is delinquents; the next category is volunteers; the other four categories consist of nonvolunteers. In this case, the petitioner was in the third of the six categories at the time he was declared to be a 'delinquent.' By virtue of the declaration of delinquency he was moved to the first of the categories which meant, according to the brief of the Department of Justice, that 'it is unlikely that petitioner, who was 20 years of age when ordered to report for induction, would have been called at such an early date had he not been declared a delinquent.'

If a person who is ordered to report for induction or alternative civilian service, refuses to comply with that order, he subjects himself to criminal prosecution. See 32 CFR §§ 1642.41, 1660.30.

There is no doubt concerning the propriety of the latter criminal sanction, for Congress has specifically provided for the punishment of those who disobey selective service statutes and regulations in § 12 of the Military Selective Service Act of 1967, 50 U.S.C. App. § 462 (1964 ed., Supp. IV). The question posed by this case concerns the legitimacy of the delinquency regulations which were applied to the petitioner, so as to deprive him of his previous standing in the order of call.

There is a preliminary point which must be mentioned and that is the suggestion that petitioner should have taken an administrative appeal from the order declaring him 'delinquent' and that his failure to do so bars the defense in the criminal prosecution.

The pertinent regulation is 32 CFR § 1642.14, which gives a delinquent who 'is classified in or reclassified into Class I-A, Class I-A-O or Class I-O' three rights:

(a) the right to a personal appearance, upon request, 'under the same circumstances as in any other case';

(b) the right to have his classification reopened 'in the discretion of the local board'; and (c) the right to an appeal 'under the same circumstances and by the same persons as in any other case.' (Emphasis added.)

The right to a personal appearance 'in any other case' is covered by 32 CFR § 1624.1(a). That section gives the right to '(e)very registrant after his classification is determined by the local board' provided a request is made therefor within 30 days. (Emphasis added.) The action taken against this petitioner, however, did not involve classification. The term 'classification' is used exclusively in the regulations to refer to classification in one of the classes determining availability for service, e.g., I-A, I-O. See 32 CFR pts. 1621-1623. 'Delinquency' is not such a classification, and a registrant is 'declared' a delinquent, not 'classified' as a delinquent. See 32 CFR pt. 1642.

The right to reopen his classification is also irrelevant to petitioner as he is not attacking his classification, but only his accelerated induction.

The right to appeal 'as in any other case' is covered by 32 CFR § 1626.2(a). That section provides that '(t)he registrant * *  * may appeal to an appeal board from the classification of a registrant by the local board.' (Emphasis added.)

Again, since petitioner was not classified in conjunction with his delinquency, but only had his induction accelerated, it would mean that he did not have the right to an appeal under the regulations. We are not advised, in any authoritative way, that this interpretation of the regulations is contrary to the administrative construction of them or to the accepted practice.

We come then to the merits. The problem of 'delinquency' goes back to the 1917 Act, 40 Stat. 76, as shown in the Appendix to this opinion. The present 'delinquency' regulations with which we are concerned stem from the 1948 Act, 62 Stat. 604.

The regulations issued under the 1948 Act were substantially identical to the present delinquency regulations, 32 CFR pt. 1642. Nothing in the 1948 Act or in any prior Act makes reference to delinquency or delinquents. The regulations purport to issue under the authority of § 10 of the 1948 Act. Section 10, however, relates neither to selection (§ 5) nor to deferments and exemptions (§ 6), but simply to the administration of the Act as delegated to the President: 'The President is authorized-(1) to prescribe the necessary rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this title.' 62 Stat. 619.

The delinquency provisions of 32 CFR pt. 1642, survived the Military Selective Service Act of 1967 largely intact. Again, however, there is nothing to indicate that Congress authorized the Selective Service System to reclassify exempt or deferred registrants for punitive purposes and to provide for accelerated induction of delinquents. Rather, the Congress reaffirmed its intention under § 12 (50 U.S.C. App. § 462 (1964 ed., Supp. IV)), to punish delinquents through the criminal law.

It is true, of course, that Congress referred to 'deinquents' in § 6(h)(1), 81 Stat. 102, 50 U.S.C. App. § 456(h)(1) (1964 ed., Supp. IV):

'As used in this subsection, the term 'prime age group' means     the age group which has been designated by the President as      the age group from which selections for induction into the      Armed Forces are first to be made after delinquents and      volunteers.' (Emphasis added.)

This reference concerns only an order-of-call provision which institutes a call by age groups, 32 CFR § 1631.7(b), a provision which has never been used. This casual mention of the term 'delinquents,' moreover, must be measured against the explicit congressional provision for criminal punishment of those who violate the selective service laws, 50 U.S.C. App. § 462 (1964 ed., Supp. IV), the congressional provision for exemptions and deferments, 50 U.S.C. App. § 456 (1964 ed., Supp. IV), and congressional expressions emphasizing the importance of an impartial order of call, 50 U.S.C. App. § 455 (1964 ed. Supp. IV); H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 346, 90th Cong., 1st Sess., 9-10. Thus it was that the Solicitor General stated in his brief in Oestereich v. Selective Service System Local Board No. 11, No. 46, O.T.1968, 393 U.S. 233, 89 S.Ct. 414, 21 L.Ed.2d 402:

'It is difficult to believe that Congress intended the local     boards to have the unfettered discretion to decide that any violation of the Act or regulations      warrants a declaration of delinquency, reclassification and      induction *  *  * .' Brief for the United States 54.

Judge Dooling stated in United States v. Eisdorfer, D.C., 299 F.Supp. 975, 989:

'The delinquency procedure has no statutory authorization and     no Conggressional support except what can be spelled out of      the 1967 amendment of 50 U.S.C. App. § 456(h)(1) * *  *. The     delinquency regulations, moreover, disregard the structure of      the Act; deferments and priorities-of-induction, adopted in      the public interest, are treated as if they were forfeitable      personal privileges.'

Oestereich involved a case where a divinity school student with a statutory exemption and a IV-D classification was declared 'delinquent' for turning in his registration certificate to the Government in protest against the war in Vietnam. His Board thereupon reclassified him as I-A. After he exhausted his administrative remedies, he was ordered to report for induction. At that point he brought suit in the District Court for judicial review of the action by the Board. We held that under the unusual circumstances of the case, pre-induction judicial review was permissible prior to induction and that there was no statutory authorization to use the 'delinquency' procedure to deprive a registrant of a statutory exemption. We said:

'There is no suggestion in the legislative history that, when     Congress has granted and exemption and a registrant meets its      terms and conditions, a Board can nonetheless withhold it      from him for activities or conduct not material to the grant      or withdrawal of the exemption. So to hold would make the Boards     free-wheeling agencies meting out their brand of justice in a      vindictive manner.

'Once a person registers and qualifies for a statutory     exemption, we find no legislative authority to deprive him of      that exemption because of conduct or activities unrelated to      the merits of granting or continuing that exemption.' 393      U.S., at 237, 89 S.Ct. at 416.

The question in the instant case is different because no 'exemption,' no 'deferment,' no 'classification' in the statutory sense is involved. 'Delinquency' was used here not to change a classification but to accelerate petitioner's induction from the third category to the first; and it was that difference which led the Court of Appeals to conclude that what we said in Oestereich was not controlling here.

Deferment of the order of call may be the bestowal of great benefits; and its acceleration may be extremely punitive. As already indicated, the statutory policy is the selection of persons for training and service 'in an impartial manner.' 50 U.S.C. App. § 455(a)(1) (1964 ed., Supp. IV.) That is the only express statutory provision which gives specific content to that phrase. That section does permit people registered at one time to be selected 'before together with, or after' persons registered at a prior time. Moreover, those who have not reached the age of 19 are given a deferred position in the order of call. But those variations in the phrase 'in an impartial manner' are of no particular help in the instant case, except to underline the concern of Congress with the integrity of that phrase.

We know from the legislative history that, while Congress did not address itself specifically to the 'delinquency' issue, it was vitally concerned with the order of selection, as well as with exemptions and deferments. Thus in 1967 a Conference Report brought House and Senate together against the grant of power to the President to initiate 'a random system of selection'-a grant which, it was felt, would preclude Congress from 'playing an affirmative role' in the constitutional task of 'raising armies.' H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 346, supra, at 9-10. It is difficult to believe that with that show of resistance to a grant of a more limited power, there was acquiescence in the delegation of a broad, sweeping power to Selective Service to discipline registrants through the 'delinquency' device.

The problem of the order of induction was once more before the Congress late in 1969. Section 5(a)(2) of the 1967 Act, 50 U.S.C. App. § 455(a)(2) (1964 ed., Supp. IV, provided:

'Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of this     subsection, the President in establishing the order of      induction for registrants within the various age groups found      qualified for induction shall not effect any change in the      method of determining the relative order of induction for      such registrants within such age groups as has been      heretofore established and in effect on the date of enactment      of this paragraph, unless authorized by law enacted after the      date of enactment of the Military Selective Service Act of      1967.'

While § 5(a)(2) gave the President authority to designate a prime age group for induction, it required him to select from the oldest first within the group. S.Rep. No. 91-531, 91st Cong., 1st Sess., 1. The Act of November 26, 1969, 83 Stat. 220, repealed § 5(a)(2) pursuant to a request of the President that a random system of selection be authorized. See S.Rep. No. 91-531, supra, at 3-4; H.R.Rep. No. 91-577, 91st Cong., 1st Sess., 2, 9. The random system has now been put in force. It applies of course only prospectively. But its legislative history, as well as the concern of the Congress that the order in which registrants are inducted be achieved 'in an impartial manner,' emphasizes a deep concern by Congress with the problems of the order of induction as well as with those of exemptions, deferments, and classifications.

While § 5(a)(1) provides that 'there shall be no discrimination against any person on account of race or color,' 50 U.S.C. App. § 455(a)(1) (1964 ed., Supp. IV), there is no suggestion that as respects other types of discrimination the Selective Service has freewheeling authority to ride herd on the registrants using immediate induction as a disciplinary or vindictive measure.

The power under the regulations to declare a registrant 'delinquent' has no statutory standard or even guidelines. The power is exercised entirely at the discretion of the local board. It is a broad, roving authority, a type of administrative absolutism not congenial to our law-making traditions. In Kent v. Dulles, 357 U.S. 116, 128-129, 78 S.Ct. 1113, 1119-1120, 2 L.Ed.2d 1204, we refused to impute to Congress the grant of 'unbridled discretion' to the Secretary of State to issue or withhold a passport from a citizen 'for any substantive reason he may choose.' Id., at 128, 78 S.Ct. at 1119. Where the liberties of the citizen are involved, we said that 'we will construe narrowly all delegated powers that curtail or dilute them.' Id., at 129, 78 S.Ct. at 1120. The Director of Selective Service described the 'delinquency' regulations as designed 'to prevent, wherever possible, prosecutions for minor infractions of rules' during the selective service processing. We search the Act in vain for any clues that Congress desired the Act to have punitive sanctions apart from the criminal prosecutions specifically authorized. Nor do we read it as granting personal privileges that may be forfeited for transgressions that affront the local board. If federal or state laws are violated by registrants, they can be prosecuted. If induction is to be substituted for these prosecutions, a vast rewriting of the Act is needed. Standards would be needed by which the legality of a declaration of 'delinquency' could be judged. And the regulations, when written, would be subject to the customary inquiries as to infirmities on their face or in their application, including the question whether they were used to penalize or punish the free exercise of constitutional rights.

Reversed.

Mr. Chief Justice BURGER concurs in the result reached by the Court generally for the reasons set out in the separate opinion of Mr. Justice STEWART.

Mr. Justice WHITE joins the opinion of the Court insofar as it holds that Congress has not delegated to the President the authority to promulgate the delinquency regulations involved in this case.

Under the Selective Service Act of 1917, 40 Stat. 76, if a registrant failed to return his questionnaire or to report for physical examination, he was mailed a special order directing him to report for military service at a specified time. The registrant became a member of the service on the date specified in his order; any refusal to obey that order subjected him to prosecution under military law for desertion. 'Since in most instances the delinquent registrant would never receive the order, due to not being in contact with his local board, he would normally acquire the status of a deserter wthout having any actual knowledge of his induction.' Selective Service System, Enforcement of the Selective Service Law 13 (Special Monograph No. 14, 1950). Thus, enforcement of the 1917 Act rested principally with the military, with court-martial being the main weapon of enforcement.

In passing the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, 54 Stat. 885, Congress specifically ended the practice of subjecting delinquent registrants to military jurisdiction immediately upon receipt of their orders to report. Rather, § 11 of the Act provided that no registrant should be tried in a military court for disobeying selective service laws until he had been actually inducted, vesting criminal jurisdiction until such time in the United States district courts.

No mention was made in the 1940 Act of 'delinquency' or 'delinquents.' These terms were first introduced by the Selective Service regulations issued under the Act, 32 CFR, c. VI (Supp.1940), which prescribed various duties for registrants and defined a 'delinquent' as one who failed to perform them:

'A 'delinquent' is * *  * (b) any registrant who prior to his      induction into the military service fails to perform at the      required time, or within the allowed period of given time,      any duty imposed upon him by the selective service law, and      directions given pursuant thereto, and has no valid reason      for having failed to perform that duty.' 32 CFR § 601.106      (Supp.1940).

Furthermore, the regulations provided definite procedures for processing delinquents: after giving them notice of their suspected delinquency, 32 CFR § 603.389 (Supp.1940), and after investigating those suspected charges, 32 CFR § 603.390 (Supp.1940), the Selective Service System provided for two possible dispositions:

On the one hand-

'If the local board is convinced that a delinquent is not     innocent of wrongful intent, or if a suspected delinquent      does not report to the board within 5 days after the mailing      of the Notice of Delinquency *  *  *, the board should report      him to a United States District Attorney for prosecution      under section 11 of the Selective Service Act.' 32 CFR §      603.391(a) (Supp.1940).

On the other hand-

'If the board finds that the suspected delinquent is innocent     of any wrongful intent, the board shall proceed with him just as if he were never suspected of being      a delinquent.' 32 CFR § 603.390(a) (Supp.1940).

The February 1942 amendments to the Regulations added a provision by which local boards would advise the United States Attorney in the exercise of his discretion not to prosecute those who had violated the selective service laws:

'If it is determined that the delinquency is not wilful, or     that substantial justice will result, the local board should      encourage the delinquent to comply with his obligations under      the law and, if he does so or offers to do so, should urge      that any charge of delinquency against him or any prosecution      of him for delinquency be dropped.' 32 CFR § 642.5      (Cum.Supp.1938-1943.)

This process was called the 'enforcement procedure of education and persuasion.' Selective Service System, Enforcement of the Selective Service Law, supra, at 1-3.

'The first steps of the board were to try educating and     persuading (the delinquent) to comply, but if such failed his      case was referred to the United States attorney for further      education and persuasion or if such also failed, for      prosecution.' Selective Service System, Organization and      Administration of the System 241 (Special Monograph No. 3,      1951).

If it was determined that the delinquency was 'wilful' or that for any reason the United States Attorney should not exercise his discretion not to prosecute, the registrant was given an opportunity to avoid prosecution by 'volunteering' for induction.

'(T)he registrant could volunteer for induction from any     classification, not just I-A, any time he so desired, and if he was a delinquent under prosecution such      volunteering was often allowed from any stage of the      proceedings.' Ibid.

This procedure made it possible for the boards to siphon into military service some delinquents who might otherwise have traveled to jail:

'Since the purpose of the (selective service) law is to     provide men for the military establishment rather than for      the penitentiaries, it would seem that when a registrant is      willing to be inducted, he should not be prosecuted for minor      offenses committed during his processing.' Selective Service      System, Legal Aspects of Selective Service 47 (Rev.1969).

In November 1943, a new and substantially different set of regulations was issued. These regulations did not rely upon a delinquent's 'volunteering' for induction; instead they provided for reclassification of deferred or exempted delinquents into classes available for service, 32 CFR § 642.12(a) (Supp.1943), and provided for their priority induction without regard to the order of call established elsewhere in the regulations, 32 CFR § 642.13(a) (Supp.1943).

A deferred or exempted registrant who was reclassified into a class available for service was accorded the procedural rights of personal appearance and appeal to which he would otherwise have been entitled. 32 CFR § 642.14(a) (Supp.1943). In the case of a registrant who was not reclassified as a result of his delinquency, the local board could 'reopen' the classification and accord rights of personal appearance and appeal 'at any time before induction.' 32 CFR § 642.14(b) (Supp.1943). If the local board determined that the registrant 'knowingly became a delinquent,' however, it was directed to decline to reopen the registrant's classification. Ibid.

With respect to those registrants who were given appeal rights under § 642.14, the appeal board would determine if they had 'knowingly' become delinquents. If they had, they were to be retained in a class available for service. If they had not, they were to be 'classified on appeal in the usual manner' and their status as delinquents was to be 'disregarded.' 32 CFR § 642.14(c) (Supp.1943).

The purpose of these regulations was 'to prevent delay in the induction of apprehended delinquent registrants.' Selective Service System, Enforcement of the Selective Service Law, supra, at 56 (emphasis added). More important, the Service recognized that the procedure had little to do with the statutory exemptions delineated by Congress but, rather, was punitive in nature:

'(T)he Selective Service Regulations concerning delinquents *     *  * were amended again on November 1, 1943 *  *  *. The     purposes of these changes were *  *  *. To provide for the     administrative penalty to a delinquent of prompt      classification into Classes I-A, I-A-O or IV-E as available      for service, in addition to the existing criminal sanction.'      (Ibid.) (Emphasis added.)

The regulation of November 1, 1943, purportedly drew its authority from § 3 of the 1940 Act, 54 Stat. 885. Nothing in that section, however, gives the Service powers of punitive reclassification and accelerated induction. Moreover, to the extent that § 3 has been so construed, it would conflict with the spirit of § 4(a):

'The selection of men for training and service under section     3 *  *  * shall be made in an impartial manner, under such      rules and regulations as the President may prescribe, from the men who are liable for such training      and service and who at the time of selection are registered      and classified but not deferred or exempted.' 54 Stat. 887     (emphasis added).

The delinquency provisions under the 1940 Act expired on March 31, 1947. The provisions issued under the 1948 Act are discussed in the text, supra.