The Evening Star (April 22, 1946)
Refusal to bear arms no citizenship bar
By the Associated Press
The Supreme Court today ruled that an alien who is willing to perform noncombatant military service for the United States but is unwilling to bear arms cannot be denied citizenship for that reason.
Justice Douglas delivered the court’s 5-3 decision. Chief Justice Stone wrote a dissent in which Justices Reed and Frankfurter joined. Justice Jackson took no part.
The ruling was on appeal by James Louis Girouard of Stoneham, Massachusetts. He was born at Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, and is a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
The United States District Court in Massachusetts directed that Girouard be admitted to citizenship after he said he was willing to serve as a noncombatant but would not bear arms. The Federal Circuit Court at Boston reversed the district court.
Justice Douglas said the oath required of aliens “does not in terms require that they promise to bear arms.”
Nor has Congress expressly made any such finding a prerequisite to citizenship, he said. “To hold that it is required is to read into the act (Nationality Act of October 14, 1940) by implication. But we could not assume that Congress intended to make such an abrupt and radical departure from our traditions unless it spoke in unequivocal terms.”