Supreme Court Decides Against Objector Status for Specific War

The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision yesterday, ruled against draft exemptions for men who object only to the Vietnam war.

Justice Thurgood Marshall, delivering the Court's opinion on two draft cases, said, "We hold that Congress intended to exempt persons who oppose participating in all war... and that persons who object solely to participation in a particular war are not with-in the purview of the exempting section,"

Marshall said this was true even if the objection to a particular war has "roots in a claimant's conscience and personality that is 'religious' in character."

The Court made the decision after hearing the cases of Guy P. Gillette of Yonkers, N. Y. and Louis A. Negre of Bakersfield, Calif. Gillette is a self-described humanist and Negre is a Roman Catholic who based his opposition to the Indochina war specifically on religious training.

Dissention

Justice William O. Douglas dissented, claiming that the exemption provision is unconstitutional in that it discriminates in favor of religious persons and against humanists and atheists with similar scruples against war.

The ruling frees the Federal Government to begin proceedings against alleged draft evaders claiming religious objections to the Indochina war.