The Secret Circuit by Bruce D. Abramson

Author:Bruce D. Abramson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781461645573
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2013-07-10T16:00:00+00:00

CUE THE VETERAN

Sovereign immunity is a potent weapon. Some sovereigns use their immunity as a guillotine, decapitating claims (and at times claimants) for the simple crime of opposing the king. Others use their immunity as a whittling knife, standing for suit, losing, and then cutting away undesirable portions of the judgments against it. And then there are those who simply leave their loaded weapons lying around, carelessly ignoring their latent destructive power until they hurt an innocent passerby—often one that the government would have preferred to help.

Witness one Daniel J. Sandstrom, veteran.20 Sandstrom was one of the too many young men that our government sent to fight in Vietnam. He served with distinction in the U.S. Army for three years, receiving various combat decorations including the Purple Heart. Sandstrom’s heroism came to an abrupt end in February 1969 when he lost both legs above his knees. Amputation above the knee is particularly debilitating. Amputees who retain their knees can often benefit from prosthetic devices and learn to walk again. For people like Sandstrom, no such hope remained; his amputation meant that he would never again walk. Congress recognized this distinction when it drafted the statutes governing our treatment of veterans. Disability payments are proportional to the severity of the disability, and veterans who lose their knees receive larger payments than those capable of walking with the aid of prostheses.

Veterans law, though a topic that few law students study and even fewer lawyers practice, is critical to our national security. A national government owes a unique debt to the young men and women who dedicate their youth to defending it. That debt only grows when those soldiers sustain permanent, debilitating injuries while fighting for the nation’s defense. Furthermore, the lifetime care that the government promises its soldiers is a significant portion of the deal that entices young men and women to enter the military, and disability payments are an important part of that compensation package. Such economic inducements are particularly significant to liberal nations relying upon volunteer soldiers for their defense—as the United States does today. Veterans benefits, a key portion of veterans law, therefore implicate both the government’s moral obligations and its utilitarian economic interests. Good public policy screams for a package of benefits substantial enough to induce would-be recruits to enlist and for government diligence ensuring that all veterans receive the benefits that they are due. Sovereign immunity appears to be particularly out of place when contemplating a disabled veteran’s entitlement; the government’s moral obligation alone should be enough to trump immunity. Alas, such is not always the case.

The United States maintains a program of suitable inducements and diligence—at least in theory. Congress has drafted numerous statutes governing veterans benefits and veterans rights. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs is a member of the president’s cabinet. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) website describes its goal as providing “excellence in patient care, veterans benefits and customer satisfaction. We . . . are striving for high quality, prompt and seamless service to veterans.

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