Service v. Dulles

Background

A longtime Foreign Service officer, John S. Service, was discharged on December 14, 1951 by Secretary of State Dean Acheson after a civil-service Loyalty Review Board advised removal. Service had worked sixteen years abroad, faced the Amerasia investigation in 1945, was twice cleared by his Department’s own Loyalty Security Board and by the Deputy Under Secretary, but was later found by the Loyalty Review Board to raise a “reasonable doubt” as to loyalty. The Secretary relied on a congressional appropriation rider (the McCarran Rider) that allowed him to terminate employment in his "absolute discretion" and acted without personally reviewing the full hearing record.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether the Department’s loyalty and security Regulations applied to discharges under the appropriation rider and whether those Regulations were followed. The Court concluded the Regulations were meant to govern such discharges, were binding under the Accardi principle that agencies must follow their own rules, and required a decision “on the complete file” before terminating employment. Because the Secretary acted solely on the Loyalty Review Board’s recommendation and did not comply with the procedural and substantive requirements of the Department’s Regulations, the Court held the dismissal violated those binding rules.

Real world impact

The ruling requires the State Department to follow its own procedural safeguards before using broad statutory dismissal authority in loyalty or security cases. It protects federal employees from summary discharge when department rules demand a full review, and it sends cases back to lower courts for further proceedings consistent with the opinion. The Court did not decide whether Service was disloyal on the merits.