Wilkins v. United States

279 F.3d 782 Ronald G. WILKINS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America; Richard Danzig, Secretary of the Navy; Daniel T. Oliver, Vice Admiral, Chief of Naval Personnel; Anderson B. Holderby, Jr., Rear Admiral, Chief of Chaplains, Defendants-Appellees. No. 00-55117. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted September 11, 2001. Filed January 31, 2002. Arthur A. Schulcz, Sr., Vienna, VA, for the plaintiff-appellant. Patrick K. O'Toole, United States Attorney, Peter J. Sholl, Assistant United States Attorney, United States Attorney's Office, San Diego, CA, for the defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California; Irma E. Gonzalez, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-99-01579-IEG(LSP). Before: FERNANDEZ, KLEINFELD, and McKEOWN, Circuit Judges. McKEOWN, Circuit Judge. 1 This case arises from a military chaplain's claims that the Navy unconstitutionally administers its Chaplain Corps to prefer certain religious denominations. Ronald G. Wilkins, a non-liturgical protestant chaplain, filed a pro se complaint, requesting damages as well as declaratory and injunctive relief. The district court…