United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Clark v. Gabriel, 393 U.S. 256 (1968)

Clark v. Gabriel

No. 572

Decided December 16, 1968

393 U.S. 256

Syllabus

Appellee's draft Board rejected his claim to classification as a conscientious objector and classified him I-A. His administrative appeals were unsuccessful and, after he was ordered to report for induction, he filed suit in the District Court to enjoin his induction and to have the rejection of his conscientious objector claim declared improper. The District Court entered a preliminary injunction preventing induction until a determination of the claim on the merits. That court held that § 10(b)(3) of the Military Selective Service Act of 1967, which provides that there shall be no pre-induction judicial review "of the classification or processing of any registrant," if applied to bar pre-induction review of appellee's classification, was unconstitutional.

Held: The draft Board had exercised its statutory discretion, evaluating the evidence in appellee's individual case, and had rejected his claim. Congress may constitutionally require that a registrant's challenges to such decisions be deferred until after induction, when the remedy of habeas corpus would be available, or until defense of a criminal prosecution, should he refuse to submit to induction. See Oestereich v. Selective Service Bd., ante, p. 393 U. S. 233.

287 F.Supp. 369, reversed and remanded.