Simmons v. United States

Decision Date14 March 1955
Docket NumberNo. 251,251
Citation75 S.Ct. 397,348 U.S. 397,99 L.Ed. 453
PartiesRobert SIMMONS, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES of America
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Mr.Hayden C. Covington, Brooklyn, N.Y., for petitioner.

Mr. Robert W. Ginnane, Washington, D.C., for respondent.

Mr. Justice CLARK delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case presents another question concerning the processing of conscientious objector claims under the Universal Military Training and Service Act. Petitioner contends that the failure of the Department of Justice to furnish him with a fair re sume of all adverse information in the Federal Bureau of Investigation report deprived him of the 'hearing' provided by § 6(j) of the Act, 62 Stat. 612, as amended 50 U.S.C.App. § 456(j), 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 456(j), and thereby invalidated his I—A classification. In the circumstances of this case, we conclude that a fair re sume , as contemplated in United States v. Nugent, 1953, 346 U.S. 1, 73 S.Ct. 991, 97 L.Ed. 1417, was not furnished petitioner, and that this deprived him of a fair hearing within the terms of the Act.

Petitioner registered under the selective service laws in 1948. He was then employed as a chauffeur at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, having had 8 years of grade school and 2 1/2 years of high school. At that time, he did not claim to be a minister or a conscientious objector, but stated that he believed his classification should be I—A. The local Board so classified him. In 1949, petitioner was married and, on June 4, 1951, he was given a dependency deferment, which was terminated on October 22, 1951. Within a week of his restoration to I—A, petitioner filed the special form for conscientious objectors, claiming exemption from combatant and noncombatant service. In this and in subsequent statements to the selective service authorities, petitioner revealed that he had first been contacted by a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses in November 1949; that he had started a Bible study course at that time and had progressed gradually toward the status of minister; that he had become an unordained minister in December 1950, and an ordained minister in October 1951; that he preached from house to house and on the streets, giving public expression to his conscientious objections to war; that the demands of his 'ministry' and the commands of the Bible, admonishing him not to kill and to follow God rather than men, precluded his participation in the military; and that he would not use force '(u)nless it be under the supervision of Jehovah God.' After a personal appearance, in which petitioner sought exemption as a minister rather than as a conscientious objector, the local Board continued him in I—A. Petitioner filed an appeal. The Appeal Board tentatively found against him, and referred the case to the Department of Justice.

Following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, petitioner was notified to appear for a hearing. No copy of the notice appears in the record, but it appears that the form sent to registrants during the period in question stated that the hearing officer would advise the registrant 'as to the general nature and character' of adverse evidence in the FBI report if he requested such information 'at any time after receipt by him of the notice of hearing and before the date set for the hearing.'1 There is no evidence that petitioner made such a request prior to the hearing. He did, however, make a request at the hearing. According to petitioner's uncontradicted testimony, the hearing officer told him that the FBI report disclosed that he had been hanging around poolrooms, and the hearing officer asked him if he did that now. Petitioner replied that he did not, and asked what else was in the report. The hearing officer changed the subject. He subsequently asked petitioner's wife how she was feeling and how petitioner was treating her. Her reply was 'fine.' The hearing officer reported that petitioner impressed him as sincere, but recommended that he be classified I—A because his religious activities coincided with pressure from the Draft Board.

In its report to the Appeals Board, the Department of Justice adopted the hearing officer's recommendation, relying on the timing of petitioner's religious activities and 'his abusiveness and the exercise of physical violence towards his wife.'2 The latter reason rested on data presumably gathered by the FBI. According to the Depart- ment's report, police records showed that petitioner was arrested and fined in May 1950 for hitting his wife; that the police were called upon to settle a 'hot argument' in June 1950; and that petitioner's wife claimed in January 1952 that he was 'abusive' towards her. Also narrated in the report, although not specifically relied on in making the recommendation, is the statement of a 'confidential informant' that prior to his recent religious activity petitioner had been 'a rather heavy drinker and crap shooter in and around local taverns and pool halls.'3 Petitioner was continued in I—A by the Appeal Board. He refused to submit to induction and this prosecution followed. On trial, petitioner claimed that he had not been afforded a fair summary of the FBI report and secured the issuance of a subpoena duces tecum requiring production of the original report. On motion of the Government, and over objection of petitioner, the subpoena was quashed. Thereafter petitioner was convicted, and the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed, 213 F.2d 901.

Section 6(j) of the Act provides that '(t)he Department of Justice, after appropriate inquiry, shall hold a hearing with respect to the character and good faith' of the claimed conscientious objections. In United States v. Nugent, supra, we held that this 'hearing' did not entail disclosure of the secret FBI reports. In reaching this conclusion, however, we relied on the availability to the registrant of a fair re sume of these reports:

'* * * We think the Department of Justice satisfies its duties under § 6(j) when it accords a fair opportunity to the registrant to speak his piece before an impartial hearing officer; when it permits him to produce all relevant evidence in his own behalf and at the same time supplies him with a fair re sume of any adverse evidence in the investigator's report.' 346 U.S. at page 6, 73 S.Ct. at page 994.

We did not view this provision for a fair summary as a matter of grace within the Department's discretion, but rather as an essential element in the processing of conscientious objector claims. United States v. Nugent represented a balancing between the demands of an effective system for mobilizing the Nation's manpower in times of crisis and the demands of fairness toward the individual registrant. We permitted the FBI report to remain secret because we were of the view that other safeguards in the proceeding, particularly the furnishing of a fair re sume , maintained the basic elements of fair play. If the balance struck in Nugent is to be preserved, the registrant must receive the fair summary to which he is entitled. The Department expressly recognizes this and, since Nugent, has furnished each registrant at the time he is notified of the hearing, with a written re sume of the information developed in the FBI report, a copy of which is also placed in his file for use by the Appeal Board.4

The Government assumes that the Department of Justice is required to furnish the registrant with a fair re sume upon request. But it contends that petitioner failed to make a timely request for the summary; that the remarks of the hearing officer gave him adequate notice of the unfavorable evidence in the FBI report; and, finally, that the lack of notice, if there was such, was harmless.

As to the request for the summary, the Government must rely on a document which is not in the record and which was not open to attack or explanation in the trial court. Indeed, had the Government produced the form notice in the lower courts, petitioner might have been able to show that he had made a request prior to the hearing. But leaving these difficulties aside, the notice reproduced in the Government's brief does not, in our view, convey clearly to the layman the idea that he must make a request for the re sume prior to the hearing or forever waive his rights in this respect.5 There is nothing in either the statute or the regulations authorizing such a waiver. And the discussion of this point in Nugent, 346 U.S., at page 6, 73 S.Ct. at page 994, note 10, was not directed at the time or method of requesting the re sume , but only at its availability.

That petitioner never received a fair re sume of the unfavorable evidence gleaned by the FBI seems hardly arguable on this record. As to his alleged gambling and drinking, the hearing officer merely told petitioner that he was reported to have been hanging around pool rooms. And as to the reported incidents of violence and abuse towards his wife, the hearing officer, in an apparent aside, advanced only the general query to petitioner's wife, asking her how petitioner was treating her now. A fair re sume is one which will permit the registrant to defend against the adverse evidence—to explain it, rebut it, or otherwise detract from its damaging force. The remarks of the hearing officer at most amounted to vague hints, and these...

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