THE DATE OF JUNE 28, 1971, IS NOT AS CELEBRATED AS MARCH 8, 1971, IN THE ANNALS OF BOXING, BUT IT’S MORE SIGNIFICANT IN THE STORIED LIFE OF ALI

On April 19, 1971, six weeks after Muhammad Ali was defeated by Joe Frazier, two men stood before the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. One was Erwin Griswold, Solicitor General of the United States. The other was Chauncey Eskridge, one of several attorneys who had represented Ali over the years with regard to the military draft. 

Four years had passed since Ali’s indictment and criminal conviction for refusing induction into the United States Army. During that time, the mood of the country had changed. An increasing number of Americans had come to oppose the war in Vietnam. Still, there were many who fervently believed that Muhammad belonged in jail. Just three weeks earlier, Congressman George Andrews of Alabama had addressed the House of Representatives and demanded, “Where on earth is the Justice Department in this country? Why on earth is not that man Cassius Clay in the penitentiary where he should be?”

Years later, Griswold would recall, “The atmosphere in the court that day wasn’t different from any other. I’ve argued 127 times before the United States Supreme Court, and this was just another case as far as I was concerned. I didn’t have any personal feelings one way or the other about Mr. Ali. There’s no reason why I should have. I’d never watched him fight. It’s not my practice to watch fights on television or otherwise. I argued the case myself because the question of Selective Service was full of pressures and emotions, and I just thought I ought to take the case on. I thought it was a very close case. You win some, you lose some; and this one we lost.”

On June 28, 1971, 50 months to the day after Ali refused induction, the United States Supreme Court unanimously reversed his conviction. Thereafter, all criminal charges pending against him were dismissed. But the court’s action was hardly the ringing declaration of religious freedom that some historians have made it out to be. 

With Thurgood Marshall recusing himself, the justices were initially divided five to three in favor of affirming Ali’s conviction. Then John Harlan, who was dying of cancer and would resign from the court later that year, changed his vote. That evened the balance at four and four. Had the tally stayed that way, the ruling of the lower court would have been upheld and Ali would have gone to prison. 

At that juncture, Justice Potter Stewart suggested a compromise.

In order to qualify for conscientious objector status, Ali had been required to show that (1) he was opposed to war in any form; (2) his opposition was based upon religious training and belief; and (3) his opposition was sincere. 

In opposing Ali’s request for conscientious objector status, the Justice Department had initially advised the Draft Appeal Board that, in its view, Ali failed to meet any of the three criteria. But in arguing before the Supreme Court, the government conceded that the second and third requirements had been met and based its case solely on the claim that, because Ali would fight in a Muslim holy war, he wasn’t opposed to all war in any form. 

Seizing on this discrepancy, Stewart pointed out that the Draft Appeal Board had never indicated the specific basis on which Ali’s request for conscientious objector status had been denied. Thus, he argued, it was theoretically possible that the denial was based on a finding that Ali’s position was not sincerely held or not based upon religious training and belief – positions that the government itself now conceded were wrong.

Stewart’s argument appealed to the conservatives on the court because it meant that Ali’s conviction could be reversed without ruling that members of the Nation of Islam were entitled to conscientious objector status. Only Chief Justice Warren Burger refused to go along with the proposal. And in the end, he too succumbed to Stewart’s logic.

Ali was subdued when the court’s decision was announced. “Blank” was how he described his emotions. “It’s like a man’s been in chains all his life and suddenly the chains are taken off,” Muhammad said. “He don’t realize he’s free until he gets the circulation back in his arms and legs and starts to move his fingers. I don’t really think I’m going to know how that feels until I start to travel, go to foreign countries, see those strange people in the street. Then I’m gonna know I’m free.”

And there was one thing more that Ali had to do. The Supreme Court couldn’t give him back the heavyweight championship of the world. He would have to win his title back in the ring.