United States v. Wainscott
| Decision Date | 25 April 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 72-1988.,72-1988. |
| Citation | 496 F.2d 356 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. John Charles WAINSCOTT, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
George S. Daly, Jr., Charlotte, N. C. court-appointed counsel for appellant.
David B. Sentelle, Asst. U. S. Atty., W. D. N. C. (Keith S. Snyder, U. S. Atty., and Hugh J. Beard, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., on brief) for appellee.
Before HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge, BRYAN, Senior Circuit Judge, and WINTER, CRAVEN, BUTZNER, RUSSELL, FIELD, and WIDENER, Circuit Judges, sitting in banc.
The principal question raised by this appeal is whether a selective service order of induction, issued before the Draft Extension Act of 1971, is valid when an appeal board has assigned the reason for its decision, but the local board has failed to state why it denied the registrant's claim. In United States v. Broyles, 423 F.2d 1299 (4th Cir. 1970), we held that when a registrant establishes a prima facie case for classification as a conscientious objector, the local board must disclose why it rejected the registrant's claim.1 Disclosure of the reasons for the board's decision, we concluded, was essential to effective judicial review. We now hold that the local board's failure to state the basis of its decision casts such a flaw on administrative review that the omission cannot be remedied by the appeal board's statement of its reasons for denying the claim. Accordingly, we find the order of induction to be invalid and reverse the conviction of John Charles Wainscott for refusing to submit to induction.
Wainscott registered with the Selective Service System on July 21, 1966, and was given a student, II-S, classification six months later. After receiving a series of student deferments, his II-S classification expired on October 15, 1969. On January 5, 1970, he was reclassified available for induction, I-A, and on January 15 was informed of his right to a personal appearance before his local board and his right to appeal, neither of which he exercised. After undergoing a physical examination on February 13, he was notified on March 9 that he was acceptable for service. A month later he requested SSS Form No. 150 for conscientious objectors, which he submitted on May 8.
In his conscientious objector questionnaire, Wainscott described his religious beliefs as follows:
In response to a question concerning the source of his religious beliefs, he replied:
To the question, "To what extent does your religious training and belief restrict you from ministering to the sick and injured, either civilian or military, or from serving in the Armed Forces as a noncombatant without weapons?" Wainscott replied:
He noted that he had expressed his views to acquaintances and that he had started a thesis on the subject while attending college. He also submitted letters from his parents and two other persons attesting to the nature and sincerity of his beliefs.
Shortly after Wainscott applied for classification as a conscientious objector, the board requested an interview. From the executive secretary's notes it appears that when a member of the board observed that Wainscott was requesting noncombat status, Wainscott replied that he must have made a mistake as he thought noncombat meant no service at all. Asked when the change in status occurred, he stated no change had occurred — that he didn't read the forms very carefully and that the statement he made with regard to serving as a noncombatant meant no service of any kind.
With respect to Wainscott's religious beliefs, the secretary's notes reflect that he claimed no strong religious background and added that he thought religion was just a code of ethics; that he does not believe there is a Supreme Being, and that in order to prevent chaos you should treat people as you want them to treat you. He added that the worst thing to do to start chaos was killing and that he couldn't conceive of killing. He reiterated that he thought it was morally wrong to go to war. This, he said, involved a personal code. On being questioned about his conclusion that there was no "hereafter," he stated that he started to think about this when he was twelve and he came to the conclusion when he was about eighteen or nineteen years of age. He acknowledged that he did not attend church now, although formerly he did.
During the interview, he ascribed his delay in filing his application to advice from friends that he need not seek classification as a conscientious objector when he held a II-S deferment. When the board sought to plumb the depth of his beliefs by confronting him with the alternative of induction or jail, he stated that he guessed it would have to be jail.
Without stating its reasons, the board refused to classify Wainscott as a conscientious objector. Wainscott filed an administrative appeal, which was denied with the following statement:
2
After Wainscott refused to be inducted into the army, he was convicted of violating 50 U.S.C. App. § 462 (1972). On appeal, his principal assignment of error is that the failure of the local board to disclose the reasons for rejecting his claim invalidated the underlying order of induction. A panel of this court, assuming that Wainscott had presented a prima facie case for conscientious objection and deeming a statement of the appeal board's decision sufficient to validate the order, held that there was a basis in fact for Wainscott's classification and affirmed his conviction. We granted rehearing in banc principally to consider whether the appeal board's statement remedied the local board's silence.
The government, pointing out that an appeal board can classify de novo, argues that an appeal board's statement of reasons for the registrant's classification is sufficient to enable a court to review the registrant's claim. This contention, however, addresses only the necessity of an adequate record for judicial review. It overlooks the important function of administrative review.
Judicial review of selective service classifications is extremely limited. If the board's order has a basis in fact, it must be sustained. 50 U.S.C. § 460(b)(3) (1972); Estep v. United States, 327 U.S. 114, 122, 66 S.Ct. 423, 90 L.Ed. 567 (1946). On the other hand, an appeal board is not so narrowly restricted. It can classify anew. 50 U. S.C. § 460(b)(3) (1972); 32 C.F.R. § 1626.4(h) (1973); United States v. Verbeek, 423 F.2d 667, 668 (9th Cir. 1970). The fair operation of the system, therefore, depends in no small part on "the opportunity for full administrative review." Mulloy v. United States, 398 U. S. 410, 416, 90 S.Ct. 1766, 1771, 26 L. Ed.2d 362 (1970). Recognizing that in the usual case an appeal board's classification is final, the Supreme Court held under procedures formerly in effect, that a registrant was entitled to a copy of the Department of Justice's recommendation so he could effectively present his case to the appeal board. Gonzales v. United States, 348 U.S. 407, 75 S.Ct. 409, 99 L.Ed. 467 (1955).
Although the Department of Justice no longer presents its recommendation in conscientious objector appeals, the need for the registrant to know the basis of the ruling against him has not lessened. Under regulations in effect at the time of Wainscott's appeal, a registrant could submit a written statement "specifying the matters in which he believes the local board erred."3 Without being informed of the local board's reasons for denying his claim, a registrant's opportunity for filing an effective statement on his administrative appeal has been aptly described as "no more than a stab in the dark." United States v. Edwards, 450 F.2d 49, 52 (1st Cir. 1971). Furthermore, the local board's silence compels the appeal board to speculate about the basis of the local board's decision. This, too, impedes administrative review. Cf. Smith v. United States, 157 F.2d 176, 182 (4th Cir. 1946) (dictum). In sum, the reasons that have persuaded a majority of the courts of appeals to require local boards to articulate the basis of their decisions for the purpose of facilitating judicial review apply as cogently to administrative review. See United States v. Speicher, 439 F.2d 104, 108 (3d Cir. 1971).
Although the Supreme Court has not expressly decided the issue before us, it vacated a judgment of conviction in Lenhard v. United States, 405 U.S. 1013, 92 S.Ct. 1296, 31 L.Ed.2d 477 (1972), and remanded the case for consideration in the light of a memorandum of the Solicitor General that addressed the...
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Bjerkan v. U.S., 74--2039
...status. This omission was remedied, however, by the State Appeal Board's explanation for denying this appeal. Neither United States v. Wainscott, 496 F.2d 356 (4 Cir. 1974) or United States v. Lemmens, 430 F.2d 619 (7 Cir. 1970) require a different analysis. The reasons for the denial of Mr......