Elder et al. v. Brannan, Secretary of Agriculture (341 U.S. 277)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 7, 1951 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 341 U.S. 277 · 71 S. Ct. 685
- Decided
- May 7, 1951
- Term
- October Term 1950
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Clark
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Affirmed and reversed (or vacated) in part and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Clark delivered the opinion of the Court. These actions involve questions concerning the precise scope of rights to employment in the federal service granted by the Veterans’ Preference Act of 1944. 58 Stat. 387, 5 U. S. C. (1946 ed.) §§ 851 et seq. The ultimate issues are two: (1) whether under § 12 of the Act veterans with temporary war-service appointments are entitled to retention preference over nonveterans with the equivalent of classified civil service status when reduction-in-force discharges are made; and (2) whether the reemployment rights of veterans lawfully discharged are governed by § 12 retention priorities or by other provisions of the Act. We treat these cases together, as did the courts below, and shall refer to Elder and Furman as petitioners. Petitioners are honorably discharged veterans and as such are concededly entitled to whatever benefits the Act affords. They were appointed associate attorneys in the Office of the Solicitor of the Department of Agriculture in July and August 1943. At the time of their appointments, a civil service regulation was in effect under which all appointments as attorneys were to be limited to the duration of the war plus six months, and persons so appointed were not to acquire a classified (competitive) civil service status. On May 29, 1947, petitioners and eighteen other attorneys in the Department were notified…
Excerpt of a 20,565-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.