The opinion of the court was delivered by: Bauer, District Judge.
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
This cause comes on the plaintiff's motion for a preliminary
injunction.
This is a civil action for preliminary and permanent injunctive
relief and for a declaratory judgment. Plaintiffs, members of the
Air Force Reserve, request that defendants be enjoined from
enforcing an Air Force Regulation which prohibits Reservists,
with certain exceptions, from wearing wigs to cover long hair
while attending drills. Plaintiffs further request that the
challenged regulation be declared to be in excess of the
Defendant's statutory authority and unconstitutional.
The jurisdiction of this Court is invoked pursuant to
28 U.S.C. § 1331, 1346(a)(2) and 2201, 2202. The amount in controversy
exclusive of interest and costs exceeds the sum of Ten Thousand
Dollars ($10,000.00).
It is the opinion of this Court after examining the pleadings
and relevant case law that a preliminary injunction should be
granted against the defendants in order to protect the putative
rights and military status of the plaintiffs until this Court
decides the issues in question. There is a twofold basis for this
ruling.
First, there is a recent trend in the case law which would seem
to support the proposition advocated by the plaintiffs. In so far
as members of the Armed Forces Reserves are concerned, who under
their contracts are allowed to work and live in civilian society
for the vast majority of the time, the right to wear their hair
as they please is not so trivial as to be denied without
sufficient service-connected reason. See Friedman v. Froehlke,
470 F.2d 1351 (1st Cir. 1972); Harris v. Kaine, 352 F. Supp. 769
(S.D.N.Y. 1972); cf. Anderson v. Laird, 437 F.2d 912 (7th Cir.
1971).
Second, the United States Army in a recent change to Army
Regulation 600-20 (chapter 5) granted to Army reservists exactly
what these Air Force reservists seek. The conflicting policy
between branches of military service concerning the grooming of
reservists might well involve constitutional problems of equal
protection and due process.
The Plaintiffs' motion for a Preliminary Injunction is granted.
Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that until the issues of the
instant action are resolved the defendants Major Henry O. Wick,
Jr., Robert Seamans, and the United States of America, their
agents, servants, employees and attorneys are enjoined from
enforcing any Air Force Regulation which prohibits plaintiffs
while attending drills as United States Air Force Reservists from
wearing wigs to cover long hair.
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