Carlucci, Frank C., Secretary of Defense, et al. v. Doe, John (488 U.S. 93)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 6, 1988 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 488 U.S. 93 · 109 S. Ct. 407
- Decided
- December 6, 1988
- Term
- October Term 1988
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice White
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice White delivered the opinion of the Court. The issue in this case is whether the National Security Agency (NSA) invoked the proper statutory authority when it terminated respondent John Doe, an NSA employee. The Court of Appeals held that NSA did not — a decision with which we disagree. We first describe the statutes relevant to this case. Section 7532 of Title 5 of the United States Code, on which the Court of Appeals relied, was passed in 1950 and reenacted and codified in 1966, as part of Chapter 75 of Title 5, the Chapter that deals with adverse actions against employees of the United States. See 5 U. S. C. §7532. The section provides that the head of an agency “may suspend without pay” an employee when he considers such action “necessary in the interests of national security,” see § 7532(a), and “may remove” the suspended employee if such action is “necessary or advisable in the interests of national security.” § 7532(b). Subsection (c) of §7532 specifies the procedural protections to which a suspended employee is entitled prior to removal. The National Security Agency Act of 1959 (1959 NSA Act) empowers the Secretary of Defense, or his designee, to establish NSA positions and appoint employees thereto “as may be necessary to carry out the functions of such agency.” Note following 50 U. S. C. § 402. By virtue of the 1959 NSA Act, NSA employees who are not…
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