Musser v. United States, 414 U.S. 31 (1973)

ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES

COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

A local draft board’s mere refusal to reopen a registrant’s classification following a claim for conscientious objector status made after issuance of an order to report for induction and based on an assertion that the registrant’s conscientious objection to war in any form had crystallized after the issuance of the order to report, cannot signify more than a recognition of lack of power to reopen, and cannot be read as a "denial" of the claim on the merits, and thus a bar to in service review, no matter what the board’s apparent motivations in refusing to reopen may have been, and notwithstanding an expressed or unexpressed indication of the board’s view of the claim. Ehlert v. United States, 402 U.S. 99. Certiorari granted; No. 72-1733, 478 F.2d 1068; and No. 72-6748, 474 F.2d 90, affirmed.