Selective Service System v. Minnesota Public Interest Research Group

Citation104 S.Ct. 3348,468 U.S. 841,82 L.Ed.2d 632
Decision Date05 July 1984
Docket NumberNo. 83-276,83-276
PartiesSELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM et al. v. MINNESOTA PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP et al
CourtUnited States Supreme Court
Syllabus

Section § 12(f) to the Military Selective Service Act denies federal financial assistance under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to male students between the ages of 18 and 26 who fail to register for the draft. Section 12(f)(2) requires applicants for Title IV assistance to file a statement with their institutions of higher education attesting to their compliance with the Act and implementing regulations. A Presidential Proclamation requires young men to register for the draft within 30 days of their 18th birthday. Failure to register within this time is a criminal offense. The regulations permit late registrants to establish eligibility for Title IV assistance. Appellee students (hereafter appellees), who have not registered for the draft, brought suits in Federal District Court seeking to enjoin the enforcement of § 12(f). The District Court granted the requested relief, holding that the regulations making late registrants eligible for Title IV aid were inconsistent with the statute, and that § 1113 is an unconstitutional bill of attainder because it singles out an identifiable group that would be ineligible for Title IV aid based on their failure to register. Alternatively, the District Court held that § 1113 also violated appellees' Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination.

Held:

1. Section 1113 is not a bill of attainder. Pp. 846-856.

(a) A bill of attainder is "a law that legislatively determines guilt and inflicts punishment upon an identifiable individual without provision of the protections of a judicial trial." Nixon v. Administrator of General Services, 433 U.S. 425, 468, 97 S.Ct. 2777, 2803, 53 L.Ed.2d 867. Pp. 846-847.

(b) Section 12(f) does not single out nonregistrants and make them ineligible for Title IV aid based on their past conduct, i.e., failure to register. The section does not require registration within the time fixed by the Presidential Proclamation and does not make late registrants ineligible for aid. The contrary view is inconsistent with § 12(f)'s structure and with the legislative history. Section 12(f) clearly gives nonregistrants 30 days after receiving notice that they are ineligible for Title IV aid to register for the draft and qualify for aid. The legislative history shows that Congress' purpose in enacting § 12(f) was to encourage registration by those who must register but have not yet done so. Section 12(f)'s requirements are not irreversible but can be met readily by either timely or late registration. Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 277, 18 L.Ed. 356, and Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall. 333, 18 L.Ed. 366, distinguished. Pp. 847-851.

(c) Section 12(f) does not inflict punishment within the meaning of the Bill of Attainder Clause. It imposes none of the burdens historically associated with punishment. It does not even deprive appellees of Title IV benefits permanently, since it leaves open perpetually the possibility of qualifying for aid. Pp. 852-853.

(d) The legislative history shows that § 12(f) was intended to further nonpunitive legislative goals. Conditioning receipt of Title IV aid on draft registration is plainly a rational means to improve compliance with the registration requirements. Section 12(f) also promotes a fair allocation of scarce federal resources by limiting Title IV aid to those who are willing to meet their responsibilities to the United States by registering for the draft when required to do so. Pp. 853-856.

2. Section 12(f) does not violate appellees' Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination. Since a student who has not registered for the draft is bound to know that he would be denied Title IV aid, he is no sense under any "compulsion" to seek that aid and has no reason to make any statement to anyone as to whether or not he has registered. As to a late registrant, since the law does not require him to disclose to his educational institution whether or not he registered late, he is not required to disclose any incriminating information in order to become eligible for aid. The fact that appellees must register late in order to get Title IV aid and thus reveal to the Selective Service their failure to comply timely with the registration requirements does not violate appellees' Fifth Amendment rights. They have not been denied the opportunity to register and have not been disqualified for financial aid for asserting a constitutional privilege. Lefkowitz v. Turley, 414 U.S. 70, 94 S.Ct. 316, 38 L.Ed.2d 274, distinguished. Appellees, not having sought to register, have had no occasion to assert their Fifth Amendment privilege when asked to state their dates of birth, nor has the Government refused any request for immunity for their answers or otherwise threatened them with penalties for invoking the privilege. Under these circumstances, appellees will not be heard to complain that § 12(f) violates their Fifth Amendment rights by forcing them to acknowledge during the draft registration process they have avoided that they have registered late. Pp. 856-858.

557 F.Supp. 937 (1983), reversed.

Sol. Gen. Rex E. Lee, Washington, D.C., for appellants.

William J. Keppel, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellees.

Chief Justice BURGER delivered the opinion of the Court.

We noted probable jurisdiction to decide (a) whether § 12(f) of the Military Selective Service Act, 96 Stat. 748, 50 U.S.C.App. § 462(f), which denies federal financial assistance under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to male students who fail to register for the draft under the Military Selective Service Act, is a bill of attainder; and (b) whether § 12(f) compels those students who elect to request federal aid to incriminate themselves in violation of the Fifth Amendment.

I

Section 3 of the Military Selective Service Act, 62 Stat. 605, as amended, 50 U.S.C.App. § 453, empowers the President to require every male citizen and male resident alien between the ages of 18 and 26 to register for the draft. Section 12 of that Act imposes criminal penalties for failure to register. On July 2, 1980, President Carter issued a Proclamation requiring young men to register within 30 days of their 18th birthday. Presidential Proclamation No. 4771, 3 CFR 82 (1981).

Appellee students (hereafter appellees) are anonymous individuals who were required to register before September 1, 1982. On September 8, Congress enacted the Department of Defense Authorization Act of 1983, Pub.L. 97-252, 96 Stat. 718. Section 1113(a) of that Act added § 12(f) to the Military Selective Service Act. Section 12(f)(1) provides that any person who is required to register and fails to do so "in accordance with any proclamation" issued under the Military Selective Service Act "shall be ineligible for any form of assistance or benefit provided under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965." 1 Section 1113(f)(2) requires applicants for Title IV assistance to file with their institutions of higher education a statement attesting to their compliance with the draft registration law and regulations issued under it. Sections 1113(f)(3) and (4) require the Secretary of Education, in agreement with the Director of Selective Service, to prescribe methods for verifying such statements of compliance and to issue implementing regulations.

Regulations issued in final form on April 11, 1983, see 48 Fed.Reg. 15578, provide that no applicant may receive Title IV aid unless he files a statement of compliance certifying that he is registered with the Selective Service or that, for a specified reason, he is not required to register. 34 CFR § 668.24(a) (1983). The regulations allow a student who has not previously registered, although required to do so, to establish eligibility for Title IV aid by registering, filing a statement of registration compliance, and, if required, verifying that he is registered. § 668.27(b)(1). The statement of compliance does not require the applicant to state the date that he registered.2 In November 1982 the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota seeking to enjoin the operation of § 12(f). The District Court dismissed the Minnesota Group for lack of standing but allowed three anonymous students to intervene as plaintiffs. 557 F.Supp. 923 (1983); 557 F.Supp. 925 (1983). The intervenors alleged that they reside in Minnesota, that they need financial aid to pursue their educations, that they intend to apply for Title IV assistance, and that they are legally required to register with the Selective Service but have failed to do so. This suit was informally consolidated with a separate action brought by three other anonymous students making essentially the same allegations as the intervenors.

In March 1983 the District Court granted a preliminary injunction restraining the Selective Service System from enforcing § 12(f). After finding that appellees had demonstrated a threat of irreparable injury, the court held that appellees were likely to succeed on the merits. First, the District Court thought it likely that § 12(f) was a Bill of Attain- der. The court interpreted the statutory bar to student aid as applicable to students who registered late. Thus interpreted, the statute "clearly singles out an ascertainable group based on past conduct" and "legislatively determines the guilt of this ascertainable group." Doe v. Selective Service System, 557 F.Supp. 937, 942, 943 (1983). The court viewed the denial of aid as punishment within the meaning of the Bill of Attainder Clause because it "deprives students of the practical means to achieve the education necessary to pursue many vocations in our society." Id., at 944. Second, the District Court...

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