United States v. Brien Brien v. United States

• Decision Date: 27 May 1968
• Docket Number: 233,Nos. 232,s. 232
• Citation: 20 L.Ed.2d 672,391 U.S. 367,88 S.Ct. 1673
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Petitioner, v. David Paul O'BRIEN. David Paul O'BRIEN, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

391 U.S. 367

88 S.Ct. 1673

20 L.Ed.2d 672

UNITED STATES, Petitioner,

v David Paul O'BRIEN.

David Paul O'BRIEN, Petitioner,

v. UNITED STATES.

Nos. 232, 233.

Argued Jan. 24, 1968.

Decided May 27, 1968.

[Syllabus from pages 367-368 intentionally omitted] Solicitor Gen. Erwin N. Griswold for the United States.

Marvin M. Karpatkin, New York City, for David Paul O'Brien.

Mr. Chief Justice WARREN delivered the opinion of the Court.

On the morning of March 31, 1966, David Paul O'Brien and three companions burned their Selective Service registration certificates on the steps of the South Boston Courthouse. A sizable crowd, including several agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, witnessed the event.¹ Immediately after the burning, members of the crowd began attacking O'Brien and his companions. An FBI agent ushered O'Brien to safety inside the courthouse. After he was advised of his right to counsel and to silence, O'Brien stated to FBI agents that he had burned his registration certificate because of his beliefs, knowing that he was violating federal law. He produced the charred remains of the certificate, which, with his consent, were photographed.

For this act, O'Brien was indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.² He did not contest the fact that he had burned the certificate. He stated in argument to the jury that he burned the certificate publicly to influence others to adopt his antiwar beliefs, as he put it, 'so that other people would reevaluate their positions with Selective Service, with the armed forces, and reevaluate their place in the culture of today, to hopefully consider my position.'

The indictment upon which he was tried charged that he 'willfully and knowingly did multilate, destroy, and change by burning * * * (his) Registration Certificate (Selective Service System Form No. 2); in violation of Title 50, App., United States Code, Section 462(b).' Section 462(b) is part of the Universal Military Training and Service Act of 1948. Section 462(b)(3), one of six numbered subdivisions of § 462(b), was amended by Congress in 1965, 79 Stat. 586 (adding the words italicized below), so that at the time O'Brien burned his certificate an offense was committed by any person,

'who forges, alters, knowingly destroys, knowingly mutilates, or in any manner changes any such certificate * * *.' (Italics supplied.)

In the District Court, O'Brien argued that the 1965 Amendment prohibiting the knowing destruction or mutilation of certificates was unconstitutional because it was enacted to abridge free speech, and because it served no legitimate legislative purpose.³ The District Court rejected these arguments, holding that the statute on its face did not abridge First Amendment rights, that the court was not competent to inquire into the motives of Congress in enacting the 1965 Amendment, and that the Amendment was a reasonable exercise of the power of Congress to raise armies.

On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held the 1965 Amendment unconstitutional as a law abridging freedom of speech.⁴ At the time the Amendment was enacted, a regulation of the Selective Service System required registrants to keep their registration certificates in their 'personal possession at all times.' 32 CFR § 1617.1 (1962).⁵ Wilful violations of regulations promulgated pursuant to the Universal Military Training and Service Act were made criminal by statute. 50 U.S.C. App. § 462(b)(6). The Court of Appeals, therefore, was of the opinion that conduct punishable under the 1965 Amendment was already punishable under the nonpossession regulation, and consequently that the Amendment served no valid purpose; further, that in light of the prior regulation, the Amendment must have been 'directed at public as distinguished from private destruction.' On this basis, the court concluded that the 1965 Amendment ran afoul of the First Amendment by singling out persons engaged in protests for special treatment. The court ruled, however, that O'Brien's conviction should be affirmed under the statutory provision, 50 U.S.C. App. § 462(b)(6), which in its view made violation of the nonpossession regulation a crime, because it regarded such violation to be a lesser included offense of the crime defined by the 1965 Amendment.⁶

The Government petitioner for certiorari in No. 232, arguing that the Court of Appeals erred in holding the statute unconstitutional, and that its decision conflicted with decisions by the Courts of Appeals for the Second⁷ and Eighth Circuits⁸ upholding the 1965 Amendment against identical constitutional challenges. O'Brien cross-petitioned for certiorari in No. 233, arguing that the Court of Appeals erred in sustaining his conviction on the basis of a crime of which he was neither charged nor tried. We granted the Government's petition to resolve the conflict in the circuits, and we also granted O'Brien's cross-petition. We hold that the 1965 Amendment is constitutional both as enacted and as applied. We therefore vacate the judgment of the Court of Appeals and reinstate the judgment and sentence of the District Court without reaching the issue raised by O'Brien in No. 233.

I.

When a male reaches the age of 18, he is required by the Universal Military Training and Service Act to register with a local draft board.⁹ He is assigned a Selective Service number,¹⁰ and within five days he is issued a registration certificate (SSS Form No. 2).¹¹ Subsequently, and based on a questionnaire completed by the registrant,¹² he is assigned a classification denoting his eligibility for induction,¹³ and '(a)s soon as practicable' thereafter he is issued a Notice of Classification (SSS Form No. 110).¹⁴ This initial classification is not necessarily permanent,¹⁵ and if in the interim before induction the registrant's status changes in some relevant way, he may be reclassified.¹⁶ After such a reclassification, the local board 'as soon as practicable' issues to the registrant a new Notice of Classification.¹⁷

Both the registration and classification certificates are small white cards, approximately 2 by 3 inches. The registration certificate specifies the name of the registrant, the date of registration, and the number and address of the local board with which he is registered. Also inscribed upon it are the date and place of the registrant's birth, his residence at registration, his physical description, his signature, and his Selective Service number. The Selective Service number itself indicates his State of registration, his local board, his year of birth, and his chronological position in the local board's classification record.¹⁸

The classification certificate shows the registrant's name, Selective Service number, signature, and eligibility classification. It specifies whether he was so classified by his local board, an appeal board, or the President. It contains the address of his local board and the date the certificate was mailed.

Both the registration and classification certificates bear notices that the registrant must notify his local board in writing of every change in address, physical condition, and occupational, marital, family, dependency, and military status, and of any other fact which might change his classification. Both also contain a notice that the registrant's Selective Service number should appear on all communications to his local board.

Congress demonstrated its concern that certificates issued by the Selective Service System might be abused well before the 1965 Amendment here challenged. The 1948 Act, 62 Stat. 604, itself prohibited many different abuses involving 'any registration certificate, * * * or any other certificate issued pursuant to or prescribed by the provisions of this title, or rules or regulations promulgated hereunder * * *.' 62 Stat. 622. Under §§ 12(b)(1)—(5) of the 1948 Act, it was unlawful (1) to transfer a certificate to aid a person in making false identification; (2) to possess a certificate not duly issued with the intent of using it for false identification; (3) to forge, alter, 'or in any manner' change a certificate or any notation validly inscribed thereon; (4) to photograph or make an imitation of a certificate for the purpose of false identification; and (5) to possess a counterfeited or altered certificate. 62 Stat. 622. In addition, as previously mentioned, regulations of the Selective Service System required registrants to keep both their registration and classification certificates in their personal possession at all times. 32 CFR § 1617.1 (1962) (Registration Certificates);¹⁹ 32 CFR § 1623.5 (1962) (Classification Certificates).²⁰ And § 12(b)(6) of the Act, 62 Stat. 622, made knowing violation of any provision of the Act or rules and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto a felony.

By the 1965 Amendment, Congress added to § 12(b)(3) of the 1948 Act the provision here at issue, subjecting to criminal liability not only one who 'forges, alters, or in any manner changes' but also one who 'knowingly destroys (or) knowingly mutilates' a certificate. We note at the outset that the 1965 Amendment plainly does not abridge free speech on its face, and we do not understand O'Brien to argue otherwise. Amended § 12(b)(3) on its face deals with conduct having no connection with speech. It prohibits the knowing destruction of certificates issued by the Selective Service System, and there is nothing necessarily expressive about such conduct. The Amendment does not distinguish between public and private destruction, and it does not punish only destruction engaged in for the purpose of expressing views. Compare Stromberg v. People of State of California, 283 U.S. 359, 51 S.Ct. 532, 75 L.Ed. 1117 (1931).²¹ A law prohibiting destruction of Selective Service certificates no more abridges free speech on its face than a motor vehicle law prohibiting the destruction of drivers' licenses, or a tax...