Clinton v. Goldsmith 1999

AuthorDaniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw
Pages1057-1061

Page 1057

Petitioner: William J. Clinton, President of the United States, et al.

Respondent: James Goldsmith

Petitioner's Claim: That the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces lacked authority to review President Clinton's decision to drop an officer from the Air Force.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner: Michael R. Dreeden

Chief Lawyer for Respondent: John M. Economidy

Justices for the Court: Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony M. Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor, William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, David H. Souter (writing for the Court), John Paul Stevens, Clarence Thomas

Justices Dissenting: None

Date of Decision: May 17, 1999

Decision: The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals' order, which had stopped President Clinton from dropping Goldsmith from the Air Force.

Significance: With Clinton, the Court said military officers must follow the proper legal channels to challenge a decision by the president of the United States.

Page 1058

James Goldsmith was a major in the U.S. Air Force. Goldsmith also was HIV-positive, which means he had the virus that causes AIDS. Because people can transmit HIV during sexual intercourse, Goldsmith's superior told him to inform his sexual partners about his condition. Goldsmith's superior also told him to take precautions during sexual intercourse to avoid giving the virus to his partners.

Goldsmith violated this order by having unprotected sexual intercourse with a fellow officer and a civilian. The Air Force court-martialed Goldsmith for his disobedience. The court-martial convicted Goldsmith of disobeying an order from a superior officer, aggravated assault with means likely to produce death or serious harm, and battery. Goldsmith received a sentence of six years in prison and forfeiture of $2,500 of his salary each month for six years.

Roll call

Officers who spend a lot of time in military jail are costly to the federal government because they still receive pay. In 1996, Congress passed a law giving the President power to drop officers from the rolls after they spend six months in jail as a result of a court-martial sentence. Officers dropped from the rolls forfeit all military pay. In 1996, the Air Force notified Goldsmith that he was going to be dropped from the Air Force's rolls.

At the time, Goldsmith said he was having trouble getting his HIV medication in jail. Goldsmith filed a case with the Air Force Court of...

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