''Webster v. Doe'', 486 U.S. 592 (1988), is a case decided by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

that presented statutory and constitutional claims by a former

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

employee who alleged that his termination was the result of discrimination based on

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

Background

The

National Security Act of 1947 The National Security Act of 1947 ( Pub.L.br>80-253 61 Stat.br>495 enacted July 26, 1947) was a law enacting major restructuring of the United States government's military and intelligence agencies following World War II. The majority of the pro ...

authorizes the

Director of the CIA The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) is a statutory office () that functions as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which in turn is a part of the United States Intelligence Community. Beginning February 2017, the D ...

"in his discretion" to terminate the employment of any employee whenever he shall deem it to be in the security interests of the United States.

John Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often ...

, a CIA employee, voluntarily admitted to a CIA security guard that he was a

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

. Despite having previously received ratings of "excellent" and "outstanding" employee performance, the employee was placed on administrative leave and later terminated as the result of his admission. William J. Casey, the Director of the CIA at that time, cited Doe's homosexuality as a threat to security. (Note that even though

William H. Webster William Hedgcock Webster (born March 6, 1924) is an American attorney and jurist who most recently served as chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council from 2005 until 2020. He was a United States district judge of the United States Distric ...

is named as the

petitioner {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 A petitioner is a person who pleads with governmental institution for a legal remedy or a redress of grievances, through use of a petition. In the courts The petitioner may seek a legal remedy if the state or anot ...

, Casey was the Director at the time of Doe's termination.)

Opinion of the Court

The issue presented before the Supreme Court was whether, and to what extent, the termination decisions of the Director under 102(c) are judicially reviewable. The Court, in an opinion delivered by

Chief Justice Rehnquist William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an Associate justice of the Supreme Court of ...

, held that Section 102(c) of the National Security Act, 50 U.S.C. 403(c), precluded review under the Administrative Procedure Act. However, the Court held that the Act did not preclude review of constitutional claims (as opposed to the procedural claims). The Court reasoned that

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

should not be taken to have intended to preclude constitutional claims unless it has explicitly so provided (603).

Dissent

Justice Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectua ...

was the only justice to completely dissent; Justice O'Connor concurred in part and dissented in part while

Justice Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Preside ...

took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. Justice Scalia wrote in his dissent, "Neither the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

, nor our laws, nor

common sense ''Common Sense'' is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political argu ...

gives an individual a right to come into court to litigate the reasons for his dismissal as an intelligence agent" (620).

References

External links

* {{caselaw source , case = ''Webster v. Doe'', {{ussc, 486, 592, 1988, el=no , courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/112097/webster-v-doe/ , findlaw = https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/486/592.html , googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=14538385972365870020 , justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/486/592/case.html , loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep486/usrep486592/usrep486592.pdf , oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/1987/86-1294 United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court United States administrative case law 1988 in United States case law Central Intelligence Agency United States LGBT rights case law 1988 in LGBT history

Background

Opinion of the Court

Dissent

See also

References

Further reading

External links