Wayte v. US

President announced in July of 1980, pursuant to the Military Selective Service Act through Presidential Proclamation 4771, that all male residents born after January 1, 1960 register with the Selective Service System. Defendant Wayte fell into that category and did not register, instead he wrote letters to the government and president stating that he would not register. These letters were added to a file of other letters from individuals who stated they would not register, as part of the Selective Service’s passive enforcement system.

In June of 1981 letters went out to the collection of individuals to register, and in July of 1981, the names of those who still had not registered were given to the Department of Justice and after checking each name to ensure they qualified and had not registered, the names were given to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. US attorneys were required to send mail and in many cases interview the non-registrants.

In January of 1982, the President announced a grace period until the end of February of that year for these non-registrants, to register. By February 28, 1982, defendant had still not registered. July 22, 1982 an indictment was returned for the defendant for violating the Selective Service Act.