ADMINISTRATIVE LAW - SELECTIVE SERVICE ACT - FINALITY OF LOCAL DRAFT BOARD'S CLASSIFICATIONS

The wife of a registrant who had been placed in class I-A and inducted into the army under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 petitioned the federal district court for a writ of habeas corpus to secure her husband's release, contending that the draft board had acted arbitrarily in classifying him. The petitioner and the registrant became engaged in December, 1939, at which time the date of their wedding was set for January 4, 1941. On November 20, 1940, the registrant filed his questionnaire with his local board, indicating that he then had no dependents but that he was to be married in January. On December 3, 1940, the board placed the registrant in class I, and he received his physical examination on January 3, 1941, the day before his marriage.

The board changed the classification of the registrant from class I to class I-A on January 7, claiming that he had no dependents on the date of classification, which was December 3. Held, the proper date of classification was January 7; thus the registrant was released from the army because the local board had acted arbitrarily in refusing to find that the petitioner was a dependent. Application of Greenberg, (D. C. N. J. 1941) 39 F. Supp. 13.