Court Assails Air Force On WAF Morals Case, Evening Star (Article, January 1960)
Full Text
Court Assails Air Force On WAF Morals Case
The United States Court of Claims ruled today that the Air Force had no right to give a WAF corporal accused of homosexuality an "other than honorable" discharge without a chance to defend herself at a court-martial.
Speaking for a unanimous court, Judge J. Warren Madden delivered a stern lecture to the Defense Department on the elements of justice in ruling on the case.
The former corporal, Fannie Mae Clackum, sued the Air Force for back pay on grounds that her discharge was illegal and invalid. The Court of Claims today denied the Government's motion for dismissal and implied it would grant the back-pay claim.
Miss Clackum was investigated by the Office of Special Intelligence while serving at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana in 1951. She was never informed of the charges against her but several months later was called before her commanding officer and given an opportunity to resign. She refused and demanded a court martial. Her request was denied and she was given a discharge "under conditions other than honorable."
Condemning such a procedure as a violation of the basic right of accused persons to be confronted with the accusations against them, Judge Madden said;
"It is as if a prosecuting attorney were authorized, in a case where he concluded that he did not have enough evidence to obtain a conviction in court, to himself impose the fine or imprisonment which he thought the accused person deserved."
Air Force regulations relating relating to the handling of homosexual charges against enlisted personnel permit the Secretary of the Air Force to authorize an undesirable or other type of discharge without a court martial.
The court rejected the Government's argument that such a procedure is necessary in the interest of "an efficient military establishment."
"A dishonorable discharge is, for a soldier, one of the most severe penalties which may be imposed by a court martial," Judge Madden declared. He said it was unthinkable that the Air Force should have the "raw power" to assess such a penalty, with the loss of rights and the sigma it carries, without respect for the most elementary notions of due process of law.
