United States v. Gray. United States v. Rogers. United States v. Wickliffe

This is an appeal by the United States from judgments of dismissal entered upon motions to dismiss indictments which had been separately returned against the three defendants, Gray, Rogers, and Wiekliffe. The cases were consolidated for purposes of the appeal.

The indictments, laid under the Magnuson Act, 50 U.S.C.A. §§ 191 , 192, allege that appellees had unlawfully entered upon and accepted employment on merchant vessels of the United States without first obtaining specially validated Merchant Marine documents as required by Executive Order 10173, as amended, Nos. 10277, 10352, U.S.Code Cong. and Adm.Service 1950, p. 1661; 1951, p. 1073; 1952, p. 1056, and the rules and regulations promulgated in furtherance thereof. These violations are alleged to have occurred during October or November of 1951. The motions to dismiss were grounded on the claim that the Act is unconstitutional and the regulations thereunder invalid. As we construe its ruling the trial court went no further than to hold that the regulations, as here administered, violated the due process clause in that the defendants were not adequately informed of the charges upon which they were denied clearance or accorded…