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Naval Academy Grad Succeeds In Obtaining Conscientious Objector Status

By Howard M. Friedman

Yesterday, Michael Izbicki became one of the few graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy to ever successfully obtain conscientious objector status. Today's New York Times chronicles Izbicki's two-year legal battle, including a federal lawsuit filed on his behalf by the ACLU last November. (See prior posting.) The Navy rejected Izbicki's application twice, questioning whether his beliefs were sincere. The Times describes the transcripts of the hearings on those applications as "read[ing] partly like a court-martial, partly like oral exams for a doctor of divinity degree..."  But now the Navy has decided that there is enough evidence to grant Izbicki CO designation.  The Ensign's realization that he was a CO began with a question on a Navy psychological exam asking him if he would launch a missile carrying a nuclear warhead if ordered to do so.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on February 23, 2011 (boomark / email).