Source: ACSOL
A lawsuit was filed today in a federal district court in California challenging the denial of access to a military base of a military retiree solely because he is required to register. The lawsuit claims that the military retiree’s right to due process was violated when he was denied access without prior notice in November 2021 to Vandenberg Air Force Base which is located near Santa Barbara, California. The lawsuit asks the court to require the commander of Vandenberg Air Force base to allow the plaintiff access so that the plaintiff can receive the benefits of his retirement, including but not limited to, medical care, shopping at the base exchange and commissary and access to MWR programs.
The plaintiff in this case is 75 years old and a retired Air Force officer who served in the military for 20 years. After his retirement, the plaintiff worked on an Air Force base as a civilian employed by a base contractor. The plaintiff was convicted of one sex offense in 1992 for conduct that did not occur on a military base and that did not involve military personnel or military dependents.
My failure was in Virginia in 1998. I admitted to that failure and served my penalty. I sold my home in Virginia Beach and built my retirement home in Port St. John, Florida, due primarily to the poor health of my father and my mother needing help to maintain her home. I have become active in local civic activities. Both of my children and their families have moved to Brevard County Florida, and we get along just fine. My daughter was the target of my failure and we have long ago resolved the situation. My life for a while was disturbed and my actions were out of line for me after I sat by my wife’s bedside and watched cancer claim her life. I have seen death in my life but nothing like that. One minute I’m talking to a live loved one and the next she is gone. Fortunately, God sent people to me to help me get through this trauma and I am back on track to living a productive life. I have never had a sex offense in Florida but of course my record followed me to Florida where I am now on the Florida registry and will probably be until sometime after I’m dead. I am not on the Virginia registry. I was released from probation 11 years early. I have been using the medical/exchange/commissary facilities at Patrick AFB/SFB since 2003. My doctor is assigned to Patrick. My use of military facilities is not a privilege, but a 29-year earned right. My doctor is on base, and my meds are received from the on base pharmacy. The pharmacy had to transfer my prescripts to the CVS pharmacy because I could not go on base to pick them up. I had to pay a $42 fee for something that should have been free.
After 19 years of using the base facilities with zero problems, I am now an outcast because of an uneducated, ‘woke’ base commander.
Military base access challenge dismissed.
Via ACSOL:
https://all4consolaws.org/2022/11/federal-court-stops-lawsuit-challenging-denial-of-base-access/
More than two years ago, I provided all necessary information to FAC for retired Navy personnel [Big_AL] to gain base access for specified purposes. Other services may have different procedures, but base legal is probably the best place to start.
Also, there’s NO plan to move ex-USS Orleck to Mayport. They wouldn’t make any money by restricting access to it.
The judge needs to rule in favor of the plaintiff, because if something like this is allowed to stand, what will be next? Denial of access to grocery stores? Shopping malls? Restaurants? We already have so many of our civil rights being trampled on without due process and it won’t be long before laws are enacted that requires us to not even leave our homes, at least those of us who are lucky enough to have a home.
I used to love this country, but I am at the point where I can’t wait to see it go up in flames so I can dance in the ash filled streets.
Fully disabled vet. Luckily I don’t need to get in base but I would like to know I could if we’re to use some of my benefits.
I was born on a military base. As you fight for what is right and just, remind yourself of these words of the great Apostle Paul who suffered through many heartaches and trials:
2 Corinthians 12: 8-10
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
There is no case law defining a bill of attainder, and I am unsure why the legal community is not willing to bring it up. This situation and really the most of the registry conditions and collateral consequences fit the very definition of a bill of attainder.
@GL I’ve had similar thoughts about bills of attainder (by extension “bills of pains and penalties”) which are prohibited in the same sentence of the Constitution as are ex post facto laws. Both disallow PUNISHMENT applied unless imposed by the judiciary. And you are right, there is virtually no criminal case law on the subject.
Until the registry is considered punishment by the courts, neither ex post facto nor bills of attainder apply. As we all know, obtaining this determination is an uphill fight. The danger in using bills of attainder as a legal vehicle is that we could get an adverse ruling, such as the 2003 Alaska decision. This could close the door to further litigation.
I suspect lawyers such as Janice at ACSOL have not brought up the bills of attainder/bills of pains and penalties argument for strategic reasons. Bills of attainder would apply much more broadly than ex post facto, which could deter courts from making a constitutional ruling that might bring down the entire registry. Until punishment is clearly established through ex post facto challenges, raising a bill of attainder challenge would likely be counterproductive and perhaps self-defeating.
For the moment, it is better that we let sleeping bill of attainder dogs lie.
It never ends !
I am a decorated US Navy Veteran, we had a reunion last september, In Jacksonfville FL. One of the activitiesplanned was a tour of the Jacksonville FL Navy Base. We were asked to provide perosonal info to have the Base people check us out.
Bieore the tour event I was invormend that I was denied acess to the base. In the meantime a US Destroyer ship , similar to what I served on, has just arrived in Jacksonville as a Museum ship, for tourists. In the news it has been published that the ship will be moved to the Navy base soon.
I was planning on being an active participant in the activities on this ship in the Fiture. My hears sank as I read that the ship would soon be moved to the Jacksonville base.
My conviction was a setup my the Orange county sheriff and Orlando Police. I was never even in touch with a minor, that MINOR was an officer posing online to be a child.
Anyway, Dont want any more Attourneys to get righ on my case so I will likely have to forgo and base access, Why is no no limits in States like florida, say afterb 10 years of registration to be removed. Is it because our ploitician ssjust want to foreverb punish us?
As a disabled vet who’s been denied base access because of being an RSO, I would be very interested in hearing the results of this lawsuit. And kinda ashamed I didn’t think to do this myself.
I am also a disabled vet, also here in Jax and a few years ago I was barred from NAS due to my RSO status. It took me about 8 months and a slew of letters / phone calls to Base Legal to find the Navy Instructions that would allow me access to the base specifically for: Medical, PSD, NEX and Commissary privileges. I had to petition the SouthEast Region Admiral for these permissions. I also had a stipulation included in the waiver that I can not be within one block of Navy Housing. I asked since the Navy Hospital is adjacent to Navy housing on 3 sides, how does that affect my travel. I was told politely “Dont do anything stupid and nothing stupid will happen to you”. I have not been on the base since. I have the contact info if anyone local needs access. The Navy Instruction is CNIC 5530.14 and CNIC 1752.1
Thank you for the valuable contribution you make against this national injustice. I look forward to hearing the outcome. My situation is exactly the same. I was shocked in attempting to enter the local base for a medical appointment, and thereafter, denied entry. The Army regulation AR 190-13 is the prohibitive document, and it does restrict for veterans who previously fought for this country, the priveleges of medical care and other services. As you know, these decisions are being made by those uneducated on this matter, namely, that recidivism rates are high, that all those on the registry committed crimes of violence like rape, and they are diseased mental monsters and boogymen.
Give them hell Janice!
I’m a disabled vet and 5 years ago I was denied access to JBSA Lackland for a reunion because I was an RSO. It just doesn’t seem fair that a person volunteers to serve, makes a mistake, and then is denied to reunite with his old friends. My case was a set up, even the judge said that. The funny thing is that when I was sentenced to 364 days in the county jail, my sentencing sheet said nothing about having to register. He didn’t put any restrictions on me, I could live near schools or churches, I could be around people under 18, I could be anywhere where minors congregate. To this day, I’m still not sure that I had to register. My lawyer didn’t do a thing for me.
Peter
You are not alone. Many of us, including myself have charges way before any registry even existed. We were added retroactively with no chance to appeal, or bargain. Nothing was mentioned of any registration during my sentencing, it just didn’t exist.
How many of us would have decided to go to trial instead of a plea if there had been a registry at that time? We were cheated of that chance.