Miсhael B. ELGIN; Aaron Lawson; Henry Tucker; Christon Colby, on behalf of themselves and similarly situated men throughout the United States, Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF the TREASURY; U.S. Department of the Interior; United States, Defendants, Appellees.
No. 10-1302.
United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.
Decided April 8, 2011.
Decided April 8, 2011.
Jeffrey Clair, Civil Division, Department of Justice, with whom Michael S. Raab, Civil Division, Department of Justice, Tony West, Assistant Attorney General, and Carmen Ortiz, United States Attorney, were on brief for appellees.
Before BOUDIN, STAHL and HOWARD, Circuit Judges.
BOUDIN, Circuit Judge.
A federal statute bars employment in the Executive Branch of citizens and resident aliens who were required to register for the draft with the Selective Service System and who “knowingly and willfully” did not do so before age twenty-six. In the district court, four plaintiffs, who are male United States citizens over age twenty-six, sought to challenge this statutory bar on constitutional grounds, failed on the merits, and now appeal.
The statutory bar reads as follows:
An individual—
(1) who was born after December 31, 1959, and is or was required to register under section 3 of the Military Selective Service Act (
50 U.S.C. App. 453 ); and(2) who is not so registered or knowingly and willfully did not so register before the requirement terminated or became inapplicable to the individual,
shall be ineligible for appointment to a position in an Executive agency.
The Office of Personnel Management (“OPM“), which manages civil service employment in the Executive Branch, has adopted corresponding regulations.
will be terminated by his agency under the authority of the statute and these regulations if he has not registered as required, unless he registers or unless, if no longer eligible to register, OPM determines in response to his explanation that his failure to register was neither knowing nor willful.
Three of the plaintiffs in this case were discharged by their federal agencies when it was discovered that they had not registered although required to do so; the fourth resigned when confronted with his failure to register and says that his resignation was forced by the statutory bar. None of the four presently challenges the premise that his failure to register was knowing or willful, and none sought to pursue to the end the statutory remedies prescribed for civil service employees who dispute their removals.
Instead, the plaintiffs brought an original action in the district court seeking reinstatement and claiming that the statutory bar is unconstitutional; the grounds asserted are that it is both a forbidden bill
In the district court, the government asserted that the claims wеre barred because the plaintiffs had a statutory route to dispute their removals or forced resignation and that this route was intended by Congress to be exclusive for cases covered by the statutory remedy. This statutory remedy, which will be described in more detail hereafter, ordinarily leads through the Merit Systems Protection Board (“MSPB” or “Board“) and, on judicial review, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Three of the four plaintiffs did not pursue this avenue; one did but abandoned it after an adverse decision by the MSPB administrative law judge.
The district court declined to dismiss the action on jurisdictional grounds, initially sided with the plaintiffs on the bill of attainder issue, and ultimately reversed ground and decided against the plaintiffs on their constitutional claims. Elgin v. United States, 594 F.Supp.2d 133 (D.Mass. 2009), vacated, 697 F.Supp.2d 187 (D.Mass. 2010). The plaintiffs now seek review in this court; the government continues to argue both that the district court had no jurisdiction and that, if it did, the statutory bar is constitutional. An objection to subject matter jurisdiction takes priority, and we begin (and end) with that issue.
Ordinarily, and as a default remedy, a district court has authority as a federal court of general jurisdiction—subject to various limitations—to consider claims against federal government officials that they are acting unconstitutionally and should be enjoined. See
Instead, the government argues the exclusive remedy for the removal or forced resignation of the four plaintiffs is provided by the Civil Service Reform Act (“CSRA“), Pub.L. No. 95-454, 92 Stat. 1111 (1978) (codified as amended in scattered sections of
Although the CSRA does not in terms describe this scheme as exclusive of other remedies, Congress intended the scheme—
The plaintiffs do not contest the view that the statutory route, where it applies, is the exclusive remedy for an employee challenging removal; but they argue that the government has taken inconsistent positions and that, in any event, for various reasons the statutory remedy is not available to them. However, the statutory route does in fact give the plaintiffs a route to direct review of their constitutional claims by an Article III court; Congress intended that route to be exclusive in removal cases; and, despite some confusion in the precedents, both literal language and Congress’ policy require that result.
First, the plaintiffs suggest that the government‘s objection is foreclosed because (a) it resisted efforts by one of the plaintiffs to raise this very kind of claim through the MSPB route, and (b) it has raised the subject matter jurisdiction claim only on reconsideration in the district court. But, as it turns out, the government is within its rights to raise the objection: subject matter jurisdiction claims are not waivable and may be raised for the first time even on direct appeal, Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(h)(3); United States v. Cotton, 535 U.S. 625, 630, 122 S.Ct. 1781, 152 L.Ed.2d 860 (2002).
Failure to exhaust administrative remedies is a waivable objection. Global NAPs, Inc. v. Verizon New Eng. Inc., 603 F.3d 71, 85 (1st Cir.2010). But, if the CSRA remedy is available and intended to be exclusive, it does not prescribe some administrative step required before resorting to district court, e.g., Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 88-89, 126 S.Ct. 2378, 165 L.Ed.2d 368 (2006); rather, the remedy displaces the plenary district court action entirely, just as a statute channeling agency review to a circuit court displaces a direct review action in the district court. See Whitman v. Dep‘t of Transp., 547 U.S. 512, 513-14, 126 S.Ct. 2014, 164 L.Ed.2d 771 (2006) (per curiam).
Second, the remedy in Chapter 75, Subchapter II applies to removals “for such cause as will promote the efficiency of the service,”
The CSRA is a successor to earlier civil service statutes, including the Lloyd-La Follette Act, which created the first general statutory protection for civil servants, see Arnett v. Kennedy, 416 U.S. 134, 149-50, 94 S.Ct. 1633, 40 L.Ed.2d 15 (1974), and used the same “efficiency of [the] service” phrase as the substantive standard for removal, see Act of Aug. 24, 1912, ch. 389, § 6, 37 Stat. 539, 555 (repealed 1978). That standard was understood to include removals that were based on disqualifying
Thus, prior to the CSRA‘s enactment, the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs noted that for covered civil service employees, “existing law provides that an individual may be removed only for such cause as will promote the efficiency of the service.” S.Rep. No. 95-969, at 9 (1978), reprinted in 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2723, 2731. The committee reported that in 1976, 17,157 federal employees had been dismissed under that standard, and it listed eight different categories, including 240 “[r]emoved because of some condition that existed before they were hired.”
OPM shares this view of the “efficiency of the service” standard. In a related part,
Third, the plaintiffs question whether the removals in this case were intended as removals for the “efficiency of the service.” The removal notices, it appears, cited the statutory bar,
The plaintiffs’ contrary suggestion rests on a misreading of Department of the Navy v. Egan, 484 U.S. 518, 108 S.Ct. 818, 98 L.Ed.2d 918 (1988). There, the Court relied on the ground given in a removal notice to conclude that the action was taken under the “efficiency of the service” standard and not on grounds of national security.
Fourth, the MSPB has suggested that a person who was wrongly hired in the face of an absolute statutory bar was never an “employee” at all because the appointment was void ab initio, and therefore, when the error is discovered, the person removed is not a former “employee” who can invoke the CSRA. E.g., Hope v. Dep‘t of the Army, 108 M.S.P.R. 6, 9 (2008) (citing cases). This “reasoning,” see Travaglini v. Dep‘t of Educ., 18 M.S.P.R. 127, 132-37 (1983), aff‘d as modified, 23 M.S.P.R. 417 (1984), underlies statements by the Board, occasionally noted but not endorsed by the Federal Circuit,3 that a removal because of
This is not the approach taken by modern courts in construing remedial statutes, and the government should be embarrassed ever to have taken advantage of such question-begging rhetoric. The plaintiffs in this case were hired by the federal government, served (in some cases for many years) as its employees, exercised official authority, and were then terminated. The idea that Congress would implicitly exclude them from the category of former “employees” entitled to seek redress under the CSRA—if and to the extent that their removal was outside a statutory bar or that the bar was itself unconstitutional—beggars belief.
The CSRA governs “removals“; nothing in its language suggests that a case involving a statutory bar follows a different route; and the legislative history already described refutes any such suggestion. Of course, if the employee comes within the statutory bar and the statutory bar is constitutional, the discharged employee will not get reinstated; but the proper outcome should be a decision denying reinstatement on the merits. Thus, the statutory route gives the plaintiff a full opportunity to present both questions to the Federal Circuit, which is an Article III court.
Fifth, this brings us at last to the question whether there is some implied exception to the exclusive CSRA remedy because the challenge in this case is a constitutional one sounding in equity or because it is a facial constitutional attack rather than an “as-applied” challenge. The Supreme Court has already ruled that Bivens-type constitutional claims for damages cannot bypass CSRA limitations, Lucas, 462 U.S. at 368; and as to equitable constitutional claims, there is something of a circuit split,4 but this circuit has been firm in treating the CSRA remedy as exclusive as to equitable constitutional claims as well.
Thus, this court held in Berrios that an employee fired by the government could not bring a due process claim and other facial and as-applied constitutional claims by an original action in the district court but had to follow the CSRA scheme through the MSPB into the Federal Circuit.
Constitutional claims are common in administrative proceedings—especially equal
What matters in the end is whether the CSRA process can afford relief. The plaintiffs argue that a facial claim attacking the underlying statute is one for which the MSPB cannot grant relief to them and therefore the premise that the CSRA remedy is exclusive where it applies—does not itself apply. And to show that there is no MSPB remedy, the plaintiffs point to statements by the MSPB itself that it, “as an administrative agency, is without authority to determine the constitutionality of Federal statutes.” Bayly v. OPM, 42 M.S.P.R. 524, 525-26 (1990).5
But while the Board may be powerless to strike down the statute, the Federal Circuit on review of the Board may do so,
Plaintiffs object that the Federal Circuit has regularly said that its jurisdiction is coextensive with that of the MSPB as to the categories of cases that fall within the CSRA. E.g., Rosano v. Dep‘t of the Navy, 699 F.2d 1315, 1318 (Fed.Cir.1983). That proposition happens to be true as a general statement, but it was not made by the Federal Circuit in our context and would make no sense if it were: for in such cases the MSPB is limited only because of a doctrine that uniquely applies to administrаtive agencies and not to the Federal Circuit or any other Article III court.
The Federal Circuit has never said that it was powerless to act where a removal occurred and the underlying statute that prompted the removal was itself unconstitutional. On the contrary, that court has said that if a colorable constitutional claim were presented, it would have to address the issue. See Riggin v. Office of Senate Fair Emp‘t Practices, 61 F.3d 1563, 1570 (Fed.Cir.1995) (discussing Webster v. Doe, 486 U.S. 592, 108 S.Ct. 2047, 100 L.Ed.2d 632 (1988)); Brockmann v. Dep‘t of the Air Force, 27 F.3d 544, 546-47 (Fed.Cir.1994) (same). And if it mistakenly held otherwise, the remedy would be on certiorari to the Supreme Court.
The substantive constitutional claims in this case are unpromising, given that one conflicts with governing Supreme Court precedent and the other ignores the fact that the plaintiffs were free to avoid the bar by timely registration. But the CSRA channels removals covered by the CSRA—and thus the plaintiffs’ claims—to the Federal Circuit, see Hall v. United States, 617 F.3d 1313, 1316 (Fed.Cir.2010); that principle serves an important purpose; the CSRA provides a remedy for a meritorious
The judgment of the district court is vacated and the case remanded for entry of a new judgmеnt denying relief for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and without prejudice to the pursuit of remedies under the CSRA to the extent that they may be available at this late date. Each side shall bear its owns costs on this appeal.
It is so ordered.
STAHL, Circuit Judge, concurring.
I concur in the ultimate result of this case, but not in the route taken in reaching it. I would find jurisdiction to consider the plaintiffs’ claims, but hold that they fail as a matter of law.
I. Jurisdiction
The majority reaches a reasoned conclusion, but I believe it falls short in considering fully the question of whether there is an applicable exception to the CSRA‘s preclusive effect. To be sure, the majority disposes of the plaintiffs’ arguments regarding constitutional challenges generally and facial attacks specifically. It does not, however, take head-on the issue of whether federal district court jurisdiction remains intact if the CSRA does not afford meaningful review to the plaintiffs’ colorable constitutional claims that sound in equity.6 Because I find that the plaintiffs’ claims would be unreviewable under thе CSRA‘s remedial scheme, I would hold that federal district court jurisdiction exists, just as our sister circuits have done in comparable cases. See Am. Fed‘n of Gov‘t Emps. Local 1 v. Stone, 502 F.3d 1027, 1034-39 (9th Cir.2007); Mitchum v. Hurt, 73 F.3d 30, 34-36 (3d Cir.1995); Hubbard v. EPA, 809 F.2d 1, 11-12 (D.C.Cir.1986), vacated in part on other grounds, Spagnola v. Mathis, 859 F.2d 223 (D.C.Cir.1988) (en banc) (per curiam).
As set forth in
As explained by the majority, Congress enacted the CSRA in 1978 as a means to “‘comprehensively overhaul[ ] the civil service system.‘” United States v. Fausto, 484 U.S. 439, 443, 108 S.Ct. 668, 98 L.Ed.2d 830 (1988) (quoting Lindahl v. OPM, 470 U.S. 768, 773, 105 S.Ct. 1620, 84 L.Ed.2d 674 (1985)). Prior to the CSRA, different employees were afforded different processes of review upon an adverse employment action, resulting in both federal court and administrative appeals with “wide variations” among decisions.
Although the CSRA does not explicitly prohibit plenary actions in federal district
Despite this line of precedent, the Supreme Court has consistently found exceptions to the foreclosure of judicial review for colorable constitutional claims sounding in equity, absent clear congressional intent to the contrary. The same year it decided Fausto, it also decided Webster v. Doe, 486 U.S. 592, 108 S.Ct. 2047, 100 L.Ed.2d 632 (1988), in which a plaintiff sought equitable relief when challenging оn both statutory and constitutional grounds his termination from the CIA due to his homosexuality. The Court found the statutory claims unreviewable, but it rejected the government‘s argument that the constitutional claims were as well, holding:
[W]here Congress intends to preclude judicial review of constitutional claims its intent to do so must be clear.... We require this heightened showing in part to avoid the “serious constitutional question” that would arise if a federal statute were construed to deny any judicial forum for a colorable constitutional claim.
486 U.S. at 603 (quoting Bowen v. Mich. Acad. of Family Physicians, 476 U.S. 667, 681 n. 12, 106 S.Ct. 2133, 90 L.Ed.2d 623 (1986)); see also McNary v. Haitian Refugee Ctr., Inc., 498 U.S. 479, 496, 111 S.Ct. 888, 112 L.Ed.2d 1005 (1991) (finding federal question jurisdiction for plaintiffs’ constitutional challenges despite comprehensive immigration statute due to lack of meaningful judicial review under statute and absence of clear congressional language mandating preclusion); Johnson v. Robison, 415 U.S. 361, 373-74, 94 S.Ct. 1160, 39 L.Ed.2d 589 (1974) (holding that statute prohibiting judicial review of decisions by the administrator of Veterans Affairs did not provide “the ‘clear and convincing’ evidence of congressional intent required by this Court before a statute will be construed to restriсt access to judicial review” of constitutional claims (quoting Abbott Labs. v. Gardner, 387 U.S. 136, 141, 87 S.Ct. 1507, 18 L.Ed.2d 681 (1967))).
Because I find that the CSRA‘s remedial scheme does not afford the plaintiffs meaningful review of their colorable constitutional claims for equitable relief, I would hold that the statute does not bar the present action and the plaintiffs may seek relief in federal district court.
The MSPB is a creation of statute, and its jurisdiction is limited. See
Section 3328 is an absolute prohibition to appointment because an individual who knowingly and willfully fails to register with the Selective Service System is barred from all executive agency employment, and he must be terminated if currently employed. See
Indeed, the MSPB has often deemed frivolous the assertion that it has jurisdiction over cases contesting removals pursuant to
Because the MSPB has routinely stated that it lacks jurisdiction to hear the plaintiffs’ claims on the merits, it appears to me that the Federal Circuit is without jurisdiction to do so as well. The Federal Circuit‘s jurisdiction is derivative of the MSPB‘s jurisdiction, and it is problematic whether the Federal Circuit has the ability to decide matters beyond that of the Board. See Perez v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 931 F.2d 853, 855 (Fed.Cir.1991) (“Since the MSPB had no jurisdiction, the merits
The majority places great faith in its presumption that the Federal Circuit would either find the MSPB competent to review the plaintiffs’ claims and remand for a decision on the merits, or that it would look beyond its own jurisdictional constraints to reach the constitutional issues itself. The evidence to support these assertions, however, is elusive. First, although no plaintiff, in this suit or others, who was removed under
Second, the Federal Circuit has never reached beyond the limits of the MSPB to hear the merits of a claim otherwise barred from review. In only one instance has it hypothesized the possibility, and never before has it acted on the idea. See Brockmann v. Dep‘t of the Air Force, 27 F.3d 544, 546-47 (Fed.Cir.1994) (acknowledging Supreme Court precedent supporting review of colorable constitutional claims otherwise barred, but finding precedent inapplicable because plaintiffs’ claims unreviewable by the MSPB were not colorable). Indeed, when the Federal Circuit did confront a plaintiff covered by the CSRA who asserted constitutional claims that were beyond MSPB review, it affirmed the dismissal of his suit for lack of jurisdiction, rather than providing a forum for his constitutional claims. Hubbard v. Merit Sys. Prot. Bd., 319 Fed.Appx. 912 (Fed.Cir.2009) (unpublished). Such case law provides little comfort that the plaintiffs in this matter would fare any better.8
To be sure, administrative boards have been declared competent to review constitutional issues otherwise perhaps beyond their scope. See Shalala v. Ill. Council on Long Term Care, Inc., 529 U.S. 1, 20-24, 120 S.Ct. 1084, 146 L.Ed.2d 1 (2000) (interpreting Medicare statute to provide administrative review of constitutional claims); Riggin v. Office of Senate Fair Emp‘t Practices, 61 F.3d 1563, 1570 (Fed.Cir.1995) (finding administrative board competent to review constitutional due process claim). In these instances, however, the administrative schemes at issue expressly precluded federal district court jurisdiction, and, therefore, would leave the constitutional claims without any forum were the boards unable to review them. See Shalala, 529 U.S. at 5, 8, 10, 120 S.Ct. 1084
The CSRA contains no such clear prohibition of original federal court actions. Chapter 75 of the CSRA allows an agency to remove an employee “only for such cause as will promote the efficiency of the service,” and upon such action, the employee “is entitled to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board.”
Our sister courts in the Ninth, Third, and D.C. Circuits have held similarly and allowed federal employees to bring constitutional claims in district court actions seeking equitable relief. See Stone, 502 F.3d at 1034-39 (holding CSRA did not preclude judicial review of plaintiffs’ First Amendment constitutional claims for equitable relief when plaintiffs had no remedy under the statute); Mitchum, 73 F.3d at 34-36 (finding CSRA and comparable statutes did not preclude federal district court review of plaintiffs’ constitutional claims for injunctive and declaratory relief because CSRA not sufficiently clear to restrict federal power to grant equitable relief for constitutional violations); Hubbard, 809 F.2d at 11-12 & n. 15 (holding federal district court had jurisdiction over First Amendment claim because the “CSRA does not preclude federal employees from seeking equitable relief against agencies for allegedly unconstitutional personnel actions“); Spagnola, 859 F.2d at 229-30 (“[T]ime and again this court has affirmed the right of civil servants to seek equitable relief against their supervisors, and the agency itself, in vindication of their сonstitutional rights.“).
The Eleventh, Seventh, and Fourth Circuits have expressly avoided the question of whether the CSRA forecloses equitable relief for colorable constitutional claims; indeed, the Eleventh and Fourth Circuits have distinguished or questioned their prior precedent that suggests preclusion. See Hardison v. Cohen, 375 F.3d 1262, 1263, 1266-69 (11th Cir.2004) (acknowledging serious question left unresolved as to whether the CSRA precludes equitable relief for constitutional challenges to terminations and distinguishing prior precedent in Stephens v. Dep‘t of Health & Human Servs., 901 F.2d 1571 (11th Cir. 1990), based on availability of review and type of remedy sought); Paige v. Cisneros, 91 F.3d 40, 44 (7th Cir.1996) (avoiding issue of whether CSRA precludes equitable relief for colorable constitutional claims because claim was not colorable); Bryant v. Cheney, 924 F.2d 525, 527-28 (4th Cir. 1991) (declining to address continued vitality of Pinar v. Dole, 747 F.2d 899 (4th Cir.1984), in light of Webster and circuit split on issue). Indeed, the Supreme Court indicated the significance of this issue in Whitman v. Department of Transportation, 547 U.S. 512, 514, 126 S.Ct. 2014, 164 L.Ed.2d 771 (2006), remanding for a determination as to whether the CSRA removed federal question jurisdiction over constitutional challenges.
I acknowledge that some of our own precedent and unpublished decisions along with decisions in the Secоnd and Tenth
Consistent with Stone, Mitchum, and Hubbard, and the shift within the circuits, I would hold that for an administrative scheme to foreclose a plenary federal district court action seeking equitable relief and involving colorable constitutional claims, congressional intent must be clear. The CSRA does not meet this standard. I would then find that the plaintiffs’ claims are afforded no meaningful review under the CSRA and, therefore, their claims are reviewable in federal district court.
II. The Merits
Having found jurisdiction, I would dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims on the merits.
A. Bill of Attainder
The plaintiffs assert that
Article I, Section 9, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution reads: “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.” With this clause the Framers “sought to prohibit the ancient practice of the Parliament in England of punishing without trial ‘specifically designated persons or groups.‘” Selective Serv. Sys. v. Minn. Pub. Interest Research Grp., 468 U.S. 841, 847, 104 S.Ct. 3348, 82 L.Ed.2d 632 (1984) (quoting United States v. Brown, 381 U.S. 437, 447, 85 S.Ct. 1707, 14 L.Ed.2d 484 (1965)). The constitutional provision safeguards the notion of separation of powers by protecting against trial
The Supreme Court has struck down statutes on bill of attainder grounds only five times in the nation‘s history. See Cummings, 71 U.S. 277 (targeting Confederate sympathizers); Ex parte Garland, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 333, 18 L.Ed. 366 (1867) (same); Pierce v. Carskadon, 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 234, 21 L.Ed. 276 (1873) (same); United States v. Lovett, 328 U.S. 303, 66 S.Ct. 1073, 90 L.Ed. 1252 (1946) (targeting “subversives“); Brown, 381 U.S. 437 (targeting Communist Party members). For a statute to qualify as a bill of attainder it must: (1) specify the affected person or group, (2) impose punishment by legislative decree, and (3) dispense with a judicial trial. See Selective Serv. Sys., 468 U.S. at 847. Because I would find that
1. Specification
Typical bills of attainder evince specification by naming the person to be punished. The Supreme Court has also recognized specification when legislation describes individuals “in terms of conduct which, because it is past conduct, operates only as a designation of particular persons.” Communist Party of the U.S. v. Subversive Activities Control Bd., 367 U.S. 1, 86, 81 S.Ct. 1357, 6 L.Ed.2d 625 (1961); see also Cummings, 71 U.S. 277 (identifying individuals by past affiliation with Confederacy); Ex Parte Garland, 71 U.S. 333 (same). In contrast, statutes of general applicability that focus on prospective conduct have withstood challenges on bill of attainder grounds. See Brown, 381 U.S. at 446, 461; see e.g., Selective Serv. Sys., 468 U.S. at 848-51 (finding statute prospeсtive and therefore not bill of attainder); Communist Party, 367 U.S. at 86-87 (finding statute not bill of attainder because it did not attach to “past and ineradicable actions,” but rather “turn[ed] upon continuingly contemporaneous fact“).
Section 3328 does not meet the specification requirement to constitute a bill of attainder because it does not identify individuals for legislatively imposed punishment based on irreversible past acts. Rather, the statute is entirely prospective in nature. President Carter‘s Proclamation issued on July 2, 1980, dictated that men born on or after January 1, 1960, are required to register with the Selective Service System. Those born in the years 1960, 1961, and 1962 had six specified days to register. All men born during or after 1963 have thirty days both before and after their eighteenth birthdays to comply. Proclamation No. 4771.
Section 3328 became effective on November 8, 1985. On this date, the oldest person subject to its provisions would have been twenty-five. Thus, even if an individual had failed to satisfy timely the dictates of President Carter‘s Proclamаtion, under
The Supreme Court found similarly in Selective Service System v. Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, 468 U.S. 841, 849-51, 104 S.Ct. 3348, 82 L.Ed.2d 632 (1984), when it held that § 12(f) of the Military Selective Service Act, which denies federal financial assistance to male students who fail to register for the draft, did not meet the specification requirement to constitute a bill of attainder.13 Similar to
The plaintiffs counter that
The plaintiffs’ arguments miss the mark. To be sure, the Supreme Court has held that a statute conditioning punishment on future behavior may still constitute a bill of attainder, but this assertion is irrelevant. Such statutes have met the specificity requirement because they have identified specific individuals or groups based on prior acts, irrespective of also providing these individuals with a means to escape punishment through some future performance. See Brown, 381 U.S. at 442 (highlighting that statutes meet specification by designation of affected individuals, even if they provide escape clauses).
For example, in Cummings v. Missouri, 71 U.S. 277 (1867), the Supreme Court found invalid a Missouri constitutional amendment that prohibited people from engaging in certain professions unless they stated under oath that they had not given aid or comfort to the Confederacy.14 Although individuals could arguably escape punishment by performing the oath,15 the statute
With respect to the plaintiffs’ insistence that the court evaluate
2. Punishment
Even if
Section 3328 does not satisfy any of these punishment queries. It is true that “a legislative decree of perpetual exclusion” from specific types of employment meets the historical understanding of a bill of attainder. Ex parte Garland, 71 U.S. at 377 (barring types of employment for Confederate sympathizers); see Cummings, 71 U.S. 277 (same); Lovett, 328 U.S. 303 (barring named individuals from federal employment); Brown, 381 U.S. 437 (barring Community Party members from positions within labor unions). But
Finally, I would not find the “clearest proof” from the congressional record that Congress intended
For these reasons, I would find that
B. Equal Protection
For their second constitutional claim, the plaintiffs contend that
Because Rostker stands on all fours with the present matter, I would reject thе plaintiffs’ challenge. Despite changes in the military and the extent, if any, of Virginia‘s impact on the equal protection standard as applied here, principles of stare decisis would mandate the finding that Rostker is controlling and that plaintiffs’ claim are meritless. See Agostini v. Felton, 521 U.S. 203, 237, 117 S.Ct. 1997, 138 L.Ed.2d 391 (1997) (“We reaffirm
In Rostker, the Supreme Court held that the Military Selective Service Act does not violate equal protection by requiring men, but not women, to register for the draft. It noted that Congress is afforded due deference in matters involving national defense and the constitutionality of its enactments, and the extensive congressional record of the statute demonstrated that Congress made a “studied choice” in excluding women from the registration requirements. Id. at 64-69, 72-77, 101 S.Ct. 2646. It then held that the statute was not an instance of unlawful gender discrimination. The government had an important interest in raising and supporting armies, as detailed in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. Id. at 70-72. The gender classification excluding women from the draft was closely related to this interest because the purpose of registration was to facilitate a draft for combat troops, and women were ineligible for combat. Id. at 75-79. No part of Rostker has been overruled, and its holding would foreclose any review of the plaintiffs’ claim.
To be sure, the current reality of the armed forces represents a marked shift from 1981, when Rostker was decided. According to the plaintiffs’ complaint, more than 200,000 women presently serve in the United States military, and women now make up 15 percent of the armed forces, compared to 8.4 percent in 1980. Legislation enacted after the decision in Rostker permits women to serve on Navy combat ships and fly combat aircraft, and a new Navy policy will allow women to serve on submarines. See Pub.L. No. 103-160, § 541, 107 Stat. 1547, 1659 (1993) (repealing ban on assignment of women to combat ships); Pub.L. No. 102–190, § 531, 105 Stat. 1290, 1365 (1991) (repealing ban on women from serving on aircraft engaged in combat missions); Commander, Submarine Forces Public Affairs, Navy Policy Will Allow Women to Serve Aboard Submarines, navy.mil, (Apr. 29, 2010, 6:35 AM), http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=52954. Even more, the congressional Military Leadership Diversity Commission recently issued a final report urging Congress to allow women into male-only land combat units. From Representation to Inclusion: Diversity Leadership for the 21st-Century Military, Final Report (Military Leadership Diversity Comm‘n, Arlington, Va.) Mar. 15, 2011, at 71-74, 127, available at http://mldc.whs.mil/index.php/final-report.
Despite these developments, women are still precluded from ground combat positions. Further, Congress has demonstrated an acute awareness of the gender distinctions in draft registration requirements, and yet it has not amended the statute. See, e.g., Pub.L. No. 109–163, § 541(a)(1), 119 Stat. 3136, 3251-52 (2006) (directing Secretary of Defense to provide advance notice of changes to ground combat policy along with “detailed analysis of legal implication of the proposed change with respect to the constitutionality of the application of the Military Selective Service Act to males only.” (internal citation omitted)). Indeed, the House‘s Armed Service Committee took pains to explain
III. Conclusion
For the foregoing reasоns, I concur in the judgment. I would find jurisdiction to hear the plaintiffs’ claims but ultimately affirm their dismissal on the merits.