United States v. Peter Christian Brandt

Peter Brandt was convicted of refusing to submit to induction into the Armed Forces, a violation of 50 U.S.C. App. § 462, and he appeals.

He asserts that the order to report for induction was void because it was mailed to him more than one year after his qualifying physical examination. He was given the usual examination at the induction center and found qualified for induction, but he contends that this examination did not satisfy the relevant Selective Service and Army regulations. These points were all raised, and found insufficient to void the induction order, in United States v. Wendt, 452 F.2d 679 (9th Cir. 1971).

Brandt nonetheless urges that United States v. Baray, 445 F.2d 949 (9th Cir. 1971) requires reversal. In Baray , there was a prejudicial failure to reclassify the registrant after a physical examination had found him disqualified for service. No such facts are present in Brandt’s case, and it presents no substantive points not concluded by United States v. Wendt, supra.

An alternate ground urged for reversal requires little discussion. Brandt failed to apply for conscientious-objector status, contending that to do so would be a useless act. He asserted that the…