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Constitutional Law Keyed to Choper
Welsh v. United States
Citation:
398 U.S. 333 (1970)Facts
Elliott Ashton Welsh II was convicted of refusing to submit to induction into the Armed Forces and sentenced to three years imprisonment. Welsh had applied for conscientious objector status, but was unable to sign the Selective Service form statement that his objection was based on “religious training and belief.” Instead, he struck the words “my religious training and” from the form. Welsh could not definitively affirm or deny belief in a Supreme Being, preferring to leave the question open. His objection to war was based on deeply held moral and ethical beliefs about the wrongness of taking human life, which he had developed through reading in history and sociology. The Selective Service System denied his exemption because they “could find no religious basis for the registrant’s beliefs.” The Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction, finding that Welsh had denied his objection was premised on religious belief. The Supreme Court noted that Welsh’s case was strikingly similar to United States v. Seeger, where the Court had previously broadened the interpretation of “religious training and belief.”
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