John Alan Tomlinson v. United States

Tomlinson, convicted of refusing to be inducted in the armed forces of the United States, in violation of the Universal Military Training and Service Act, § 12, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix, § 462, upon this appeal asserts that he should have had judgment of acquittal on the ground that the action of the boards which classified him was arbitrary and capricious, and that it was without basis in fact.

Tomlinson was placed in Class I-A-O, (conscientious objector available for noncombatant military service only). The points which he makes here relate to (1) his claim before the draft boards that he should be classified as a minister of religion, and (2) his claim that he should have been classified as a person conscientiously opposed to both combatant and non-combatant military service.

Tomlinson’s argument with respect to his ministerial status is not that denial of such a classification was without basis in fact, rather it is that he was denied a full and fair hearing upon this point when he appeared before the local board. In this connection it is said that the trial court erred in excluding relevant and material testimony offered for the purpose of showing that the local board thus…