Farmer v. Rountree

• Decision Date: 17 October 1956
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 1685,2203.,1934
• Citation: 149 F. Supp. 327
• Parties: Fyke FARMER v. J. M. ROUNTREE, Director, et al. Walter E. STYLES v. UNITED STATES of America. UNITED STATES of America v. Fyke FARMER et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee

149 F. Supp. 327

Fyke FARMER v. J. M. ROUNTREE, Director, et al.

Walter E. STYLES v. UNITED STATES of America.

UNITED STATES of America v. Fyke FARMER et al.

Civ. A. Nos. 1685, 1934, 2203.

United States District Court M. D. Tennessee, Nashville Division.

October 17, 1956.

Fyke Farmer, Nashville, Tenn., for plaintiff.

Fred Elledge, Jr., U. S. Dist. Atty., Nashville, Tenn., for defendants in Nos. 1685 and 1934.

Fred Elledge, Jr., U. S. Dist. Atty., Nashville, Tenn., for plaintiff.

Fyke Farmer, Nashville, Tenn., for defendants in No. 2203.

WILLIAM E. MILLER, District Judge.

These actions involve the income tax liability of the taxpayers, Fyke Farmer and Walter E. Styles, for the year 1949.

In Civil Action No. 1685, Farmer sues under the Declaratory Judgments Law, 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 2201, 2202, for a judgment declaring his immunity in substantial part from income tax liability for the year 1949 and to enjoin collection of the tax assessed against him. In Civil Action No. 2203, the United States sues Farmer to recover his assessed income taxes for the year 1949. In Civil Action No. 1934, Styles, having paid his 1949 income taxes, sues for a refund.

In each action the Government has filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, taking the position that the pleadings show, as a matter of law, that the Court is without jurisdiction to entertain or adjudicate the claims of the taxpayers and that such claims in any event are legally groundless.

The taxpayers insist that they should be permitted to take proof and that the actions cannot properly be disposed of upon the pleadings alone. They propose to conduct an inquiry into the military and international affairs of the Federal Government since the cessation of hostilities in World War II, and to examine countless witnesses, including former President Truman and a host of other high ranking civil and military officers. They also propose to obtain evidence from the Government by submitting over 1,300 requests for admission of facts. It is estimated that a minimum of six weeks time would be required for a trial on the facts.

The stated purpose of the proposed proof is to show that the military and foreign policies of the United States since World War II, including the prosecution of the Korean War, were designed and carried out not for the purpose of defense or the protection of the proper interests of the United States, but for the purpose of aggrandizement and to impose military domination by the United States throughout the world. It is argued that such alleged activities on the part of the Federal Government are in violation of international law and are therefore illegal and void. Once these alleged facts are established, so the taxpayers argue, they have the right as individuals under principles of international law to refuse payment of two-thirds of their income taxes for the reason that the federal revenue in that proportion has been illegally appropriated by Congress to the preparation for and waging of aggressive war, and the remaining one-third to the legal and constitutional functions of government. They contend, in short, that international law overrides the internal laws of the United States and extends to them as individual citizens not only the right but the duty to refuse to participate in the so-called aggressive military activities of the country, and hence the right to refuse payment of taxes appropriated for those purposes. Otherwise, it is argued that they would be guilty as war criminals under international law and punishable as such.

But giving the taxpayers the benefit of all factual allegations of their pleadings, whether admitted or denied by the Government, it is apparent that their claims cannot be legally supported and that no amount of proof could give them validity. Under such circumstances, to permit the proposed inquiry to be made would be an abuse of the processes of the Court, as well as a waste of judicial time seriously needed in the trial and consideration of other cases.

Courts are constituted to adjudicate cases and controversies properly coming within the judicial sphere of action. They have no right or authority to resolve political or governmental questions, or to review issues of governmental policy entrusted to the executive and legislative departments.

Under the Constitution of the United States, Congress is vested with the exclusive right to levy taxes and to appropriate public revenue for the common defense and general welfare of the country, Const. Art. 1, Sec. 8, Cl. 1, and to provide for and maintain an army and a navy, Const. Art. 1, Sec. 8, Cls. 12 and 13. It has, as it must necessarily have, the authority exclusive of any court, to determine the requirements of national defense and the amount of tax revenue to be used for defensive or military purposes.

The foreign policy of the United States is the exclusive province of the executive and the legislative branches of government, and in this area of responsibility, as well as in all questions of national defense, it is imperative that courts strictly observe the limitations upon their power and refrain from rendering any judgment which would embarrass the policy decisions of government or involve them in confusion and uncertainty.

With these principles in mind, it is apparent that the Court is without jurisdiction of the claims here asserted. To grant taxpayers the relief they seek, the Court would be required to substitute its judgment for that of the other two branches of the Government by declaring that the foreign and military policies of the nation were in reality for illegal and aggressive war and not for the legitimate purpose of...