Constitutional Law: Objection Sustained

The draft law currently limits the combat-exempt status of a conscientious objector to one "who, by reason of religious training and belief, is conscientiously opposed to participation in war in any form." Virtually all draft boards have interpreted those words to mean that 1) a draftee's opposition cannot be the product of a merely personal moral code, and 2) his opposition must be directed against all wars, not one specific conflict like Viet Nam. Last week both of those assumptions were declared unconstitutional by Charles Edward Wyzanski, chief judge of the U.S....

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