Clay v. United States
| Decision Date | 06 June 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 24991.,24991. |
| Citation | 397 F.2d 901 |
| Parties | Cassius Marsellus CLAY, Jr., Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
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Chauncey Eskridge, George Pontikes, Chicago, Ill., Howard Moore, Jr., Charles Morgan, Jr., Atlanta, Ga., Marvin Karpatkin, Melvin L. Wulf, Eleanor H. Norton, New York City, for appellant.
Morton Susman, U. S. Atty., James R. Gough, Carl Walker, Asst. U. S. Attys., Houston, Tex., Albert T. Ghiorzi, Attorney, U. S. Dept. of Justice, for appellee.
Before COLEMAN, AINSWORTH and DYER, Circuit Judges.
Rehearing En Banc Denied June 6, 1968.
"It may not be doubted that the very conception of a just government and its duty to the citizen includes the reciprocal obligation of the citizen to render military service in case of need and the right to compel it." Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, Selective Draft Law Cases, 245 U.S. 366, 378, 38 S.Ct. 159, 161, 62 L.Ed. 349 (1918).
Cassius Marsellus Clay, Jr., also known as Muhammad Ali, heavyweight professional boxing champion of the world, was convicted after trial by jury on an indictment charging violation of 50 U.S.C. App. § 462, for knowingly and wilfully refusing to report for and submit to induction into the armed forces of the United States. Clay's draft case has been through practically every phase of selective service procedure, beginning with the date he registered on April 18, 1960, until he was ordered to report but declined to submit to induction on April 28, 1967, and was thereafter convicted by jury trial held on June 19, 20, 1967. On four different occasions he was classified 1-A (Available for military service) by his local board, twice by two different appeal boards (in Kentucky and Texas) and once by the National Selective Service Appeal Board (the Presidential Appeal Board). In every instance the vote of the boards was unanimous.
There has been no administrative process which Clay (Ali) has not sought within the Selective Service System, its local and appeal boards, the Presidential Appeal Board and finally the federal courts, in an unsuccessful attempt to evade and escape from military service of his country. Being entirely satisfied that he has been fairly accorded due process of law, and without discrimination, we affirm his conviction.
The pertinent but lengthy chronology of his case follows:
April 18, 1960 — Clay (Ali) registered for selective service with Local Board No. 47, Louisville, Kentucky.
March 9, 1962 — Registrant was classified 1-A by Local Board No. 47, Louisville, Kentucky.
March 26, 1964 — Registrant was classified 1-Y as a result of a physical examination, as being not acceptable for induction in the armed forces and not qualified under current standards.
February 17, 1966 — Registrant was reclassified 1-A by Local Board No. 47 Louisville, Kentucky, after having been considered by the Examining Station in accordance with current regulations and found fully acceptable for induction.
February 18, 1966 — 1-A classification notice was mailed to registrant. Clay (Ali) was furnished Special Form for Conscientious Objector (SSS Form 150).
February 28, 1966 — Special Form for Conscientious Objector was filed by registrant with the local board. This was the first time such a claim had been made. Registrant requested a personal appearance before the local board in reference to the change of his classification from 1-Y to 1-A.
March 17, 1966 — The local board granted a personal appearance before it by registrant and again classified him 1-A.
March 28, 1966 — Registrant appealed the 1-A classification to the Kentucky Appeal Board.
May 6, 1966 — The Kentucky Appeal Board reviewed the file de novo and tentatively determined that the registrant was not entitled to the 1-O, conscientious objector or lower, classification. The complete file was referred to the Department of Justice for an advisory recommendation as provided by Selective Service Regulations (32 C.F.R. § 1626.25), and an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation was requested by the Department.
August 23, 1966 — Registrant filed a letter request with Local Board No. 47, Louisville, Kentucky, for reclassification to IV-D as a minister of the Lost Found Nation of Islam (Black Muslims).
August 23, 1966 — The FBI investigation having been made, a special hearing was held in Louisville, Kentucky, to consider registrant's conscientious objector claim. The Hearing Officer reported his belief that the registrant was sincere in his conscientious objector claim.
November 25, 1966 — The Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, Conscientious Objector Section, recommended to the Kentucky Appeal Board that the request of the registrant for conscientious objector status be denied. Registrant was mailed a copy of the recommendation on November 29, 1966.
January 10, 1967 — The Kentucky Appeal Board denied the requested conscientious objector claim and notified the registrant that he was classified 1-A.
January 12, 1967 — Local Board No. 47, Louisville, Kentucky, reviewed the registrant's complete file but declined to reopen his classification. The board agreed unanimously that registrant was not entitled to the IV-D ministerial exemption.
January 19, 1967 — Pursuant to the written request of General Lewis B. Hershey, the National Director of Selective Service, Local Board No. 47, Louisville, Kentucky, reopened and considered anew the classification, including the claim for ministerial classification, and after re-examining the registrant's file again classified him 1-A, and notice of classification was mailed to registrant.
January 26, 1967 — Registrant appealed the 1-A classification and requested that the Appeal Board for the Southern District of Texas (the place of his current domicile at Houston, Texas) hear the appeal.
February 15, 1967 — The Appeal Board for the Southern District of Texas classified registrant 1-A and returned his file to Kentucky on February 20, 1967, after finding that no new information had been submitted relating to his conscientious objector claim, and having considered and rejected his claim for ministerial exemption.
February 24, 1967 — The National Director of Selective Service, General Lewis B. Hershey, appealed the registrant's classification to the National Selective Service Appeal Board (the Presidential Appeal Board). (See 32 C. F.R. § 1627.1 for the authority of the National Director to do so.) Registrant could not file such an appeal because the regulations (32 C.F.R. § 1627.3) require that one or more members of the appeal board dissent from the classification before a registrant has such a right to file the appeal himself.
March 6, 1967 — The Presidential Appeal Board unanimously voted to classify the registrant 1-A, and a copy of "Minutes of Action Upon Appeal to the President" was forwarded to the local board on March 14, 1967.
March 14, 1967 — Local Board No. 47, Louisville, Kentucky, ordered the registrant to report for induction on April 11, 1967, at Louisville, Kentucky.
March 24, 1967 — Registrant requested a transfer of induction to Houston, Texas, which was granted by Local Board No. 61 at Houston.
March 29, 1967 — Local Board No. 61, Houston, Texas, ordered registrant to report to it on April 28, 1967, for delivery to the induction station.
April 28, 1967 — Registrant reported for but declined to submit to induction on the grounds of his religious beliefs as a minister of the Islam Religion.
May 8, 1967 — Registrant was indicted for violation of 50 U.S.C. App. § 462.
June 19, 20, 1967 — Registrant was tried and convicted by a jury of the selective service violation for refusing to submit to induction, and sentenced to five years' imprisonment and a fine of $10,000.1 This is his appeal from the conviction and sentence.
Clay (Ali) has no prior criminal record and no previous charges or convictions for crime, other than minor traffic violations.
The registrant has, therefore, exhausted every administrative remedy provided by Selective Service. He has also fully pursued his rights in the United States courts, in a vain attempt to stop his induction before his trial and conviction in the present case.
In Kentucky, registrant, who is a Negro, filed suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky to prevent his induction into the armed forces. In his suit he sought a declaration that the Universal Military Training and Service Act is unconstitutional on its face and as applied because of "systematic exclusion" of Negroes from membership on draft boards; also, for an injunction to restrain all draft boards in Kentucky from performing their functions until Negroes were appointed to boards in proportion to their ratio to the population. He sought to enjoin further classification and induction of Negroes until this had been accomplished. The District Court denied relief, holding that no evidence had been submitted and no contention made that Clay (Ali) had been deprived of any right of appeal or other administrative process of Selective Service; that there was no evidence that he had personally been singled out and subjected to punitive action or other discriminatory treatment by the System. The District Court said that the issues were not appropriate for judicial review until the registrant either submitted to induction or refused to submit to induction, at which time the issues could be raised either by habeas corpus or in defense to a criminal prosecution. The District Court also held that except in rare circumstances, not present here, it was not the function of the judiciary to enjoin the operation or enforcement of the Universal Military Training and Service Act. A stay of injunction pending appeal was refused. Muhammad Ali v. Breathitt, D.C., W.D.Ky., 1967, 268 F. Supp. 63. Registrant...
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