Skip to content
  • About
  • Institute
    • Blog
    • Background Briefings
    • Issue Resources
    • Historical Documents
    • Petitions
  • Cases
    • Religious Freedom
    • Marriage and Family
    • Human Sexuality
    • Rights of the Unborn
  • Updates
  • Legal Help
Menu
  • About
  • Institute
    • Blog
    • Background Briefings
    • Issue Resources
    • Historical Documents
    • Petitions
  • Cases
    • Religious Freedom
    • Marriage and Family
    • Human Sexuality
    • Rights of the Unborn
  • Updates
  • Legal Help
Search
Donate
Donate
Menu
  • About
  • Institute
    • Blog
    • Background Briefings
    • Issue Resources
    • Historical Documents
    • Petitions
  • Cases
    • Religious Freedom
    • Marriage and Family
    • Human Sexuality
    • Rights of the Unborn
  • Updates
  • Legal Help

Bowman v. United States of America

Religious Freedom

About this Case

The plaintiff, an early military retiree, applied for additional service credit that would have allowed him to reach 20 years of service and qualify for full retirement benefits.  The credit was denied under a regulation prohibiting community service credit for employment with a religious organization related to religious instruction, worship services, or proselytization.  Plaintiff challenged the regulation’s constitutionality, on its face and as applied.  The district court dismissed the complaint, and the retiree appealed to the 6th Circuit.

Summary of NLF's Brief

Our brief argued that the District Court should be reversed for two reasons:  (1) Congress’s primary purpose in enacting the legislation that authorized the regulation was to reduce the military forces and encourage early retirement, not to aid the public service organizations themselves; and (2) the Secretary of Defense acted outside his statutory authority in promulgating the regulation of organizations for which former service personnel could work.

Download Brief

Find a Case​

Search

Browse Cases by Topic

Human Sexuality
Marriage and Family

Rights of the Unborn
Religious Freedom

CONTACT US

757.463.6133
email@nationallegalfoundation.org

Post Office Box 64427
Virginia Beach, VA 23467-4427

Facebook Twitter Rss Envelope

Subscribe to email updates

Scroll to Top