United States v. Zazove (334 U.S. 602)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 14, 1948 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 334 U.S. 602 · 68 S. Ct. 1284
- Decided
- June 14, 1948
- Term
- October Term 1947
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Vinson
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
MR. Chief Justice Vinson delivered the opinion of the Court. We are called upon in this case to determine whether Regulation 3450 of the Veterans’ Administration is in accord with a proper construction of § 602 (h) (2) of the National Service Life Insurance Act of 1940. Respondent, Tillie Zazove, was designated beneficiary-in a $5,000 contract of National Service Life Insurance. The insured died in 1943, and the named beneficiary filed her claim for the insurance in the Veterans’ Administration. Upon denial of the claim, suit was instituted in the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The District Court ruled, on its view of the facts, that Mrs. Zazove did not stand in loco parentis to the soldier and hence was not one of the persons who could be made a beneficiary as provided by the statute. On appeal, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled to the contrary and remanded for further proceedings. 156 F. 2d 24. The issue remaining for determination by the District Court upon remand was the validity of Regulation 3450. It sustained the regulation as properly issued pursuant to the National Service Life Insurance Act. On a second appeal, the Circuit Court of Appeals, one judge dissenting, reversed. 162 F. 2d 443. We granted certiorari to review the important question of statutory construction involved. 332 U. S. 835. The basic statutory…
Excerpt of a 39,350-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.