Clay v. United States
| Clay v. United States | |
|---|---|
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| Argued April 19, 1971 Decided June 28, 1971 |
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| Full case name | Cassius Marsellus Clay, Jr. (sic) also known as Muhammad Ali v. United States |
| Citations | 403 U.S. 698 (more) |
| Prior history | 430 F.2d 165 United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit |
| Holding | |
| Since the Appeal Board gave no reason for the denial of a conscientious objector exemption to petitioner, and it is impossible to determine on which of the three grounds offered in the Justice Department's letter that board relied, petitioner's conviction must be reversed. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Per curiam. | |
| Concurrence | Douglas |
| Concurrence | Harlan |
| Marshall took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
Clay v. United States, 403 U.S. 698 (1971), was Muhammad Ali's appeal of his conviction in 1967 for refusing to report for induction into the United States military forces during the Vietnam War. His local draft board had rejected his application for conscientious objector classification. In a unanimous 8-0 ruling (Thurgood Marshall recused himself due to his previous involvement in the case as a Justice department official), the United States Supreme Court reversed the conviction that had been upheld by the Fifth Circuit.
The Supreme Court found the government had failed to properly specify why Ali's application had been denied, thereby requiring the conviction to be overturned. A unanimous decision (8-0), "the court said the record shows that [Ali's] beliefs are founded on tenets of the Muslim religion as he understands them."
In 1964, Ali failed the U.S. Armed Forces qualifying test because his writing and spelling skills were sub-standard. With the escalation of the Vietnam War, the test standards were lowered in November 1965 and Ali was reclassified as 1-A in February 1966, which meant he was now eligible for the draft and induction into the U.S. Army. When notified of this status, he declared that he would refuse to serve in the U.S. Army and publicly considered himself a conscientious objector. Ali stated that "War is against the teachings of the Holy Qur'an. I'm not trying to dodge the draft. We are not supposed to take part in no wars unless declared by Allah or The Messenger. We don't take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers." Ali also famously said in 1966: "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong ... They never called me nigger."
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