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Administrative Law Keyed to Breyer
McKart v. United States
Citation:
395 U.S. 185 (1969)Facts
Francis McKart registered with his local Selective Service board and indicated on his questionnaire that he was the sole surviving son of a family in which the father had been killed in action while serving in the Armed Forces. In 1963, he was classified I-A (available for military service) but did not appeal. In 1964, after providing documentation about his father’s death in World War II, he was reclassified IV-A (exempt as a sole surviving son). In 1966, after his mother died, the local board returned him to I-A classification, reasoning that the sole surviving son exemption no longer applied because there was no longer a “family unit.” McKart was ordered to report for induction but failed to do so. He was prosecuted for failing to report for induction, and his only defense was that he remained exempt as a sole surviving son despite his mother’s death. The lower courts refused to consider this defense because McKart had not appealed his reclassification through the Selective Service System’s administrative channels.
#Issue:
Does a registrant’s failure to exhaust administrative remedies by appealing his classification within the Selective Service System bar him from challenging the validity of that classification as a defense in a criminal prosecution for refusing induction?
#Holding:
No, McKart’s failure to appeal his classification does not bar judicial review of his sole surviving son exemption claim because the issue is solely one of statutory interpretation that does not require agency expertise, and the interests underlying the exhaustion doctrine do not outweigh the severe burden of denying judicial review in a criminal prosecution.
#Concurring Opinions:
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