Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International - Monday, November 02, 1998
Michael Kirkland
In 1994, a court-martial at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, convicted Maj. James Goldsmith of several charges, all stemming from his refusal to obey a superior officer's order that he engage only in "safe sex."
Goldsmith was diagnosed as HIV-positive in April 1988. His superior officer, Col. John Tagnesi, ordered Goldsmith to tell any sexual partner about his condition and to use safe-sex precautions, such as condoms, to prevent the transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The Air Force says in spite of orders and counseling, Goldsmith engaged in "multiple instances of unprotected vaginal intercourse" with a civilian woman in October 1988. He also failed to tell her of his condition.
In 1993, the Air Force says, Goldsmith engaged in about 10 acts of unprotected intercourse with a fellow officer and did not tell her about his condition.
Goldsmith eventually was convicted of willfully disobeying a safe-sex order, and of three charges of assault for unprotected sex acts. The court-martial panel could have dropped Goldsmith from the Air Force, but instead they sentenced him to six years' confinement and the loss of $2,500 in pay for each of 72 months.
In 1996, Congress passed a new law allowing the president to drop any officer from the rolls of the armed forces who has been sentenced to more than six months, who has served at least six months' confinement and whose conviction has become final.
The Air Force then began procedures to drop Goldsmith from its rolls. That could have cost him his veteran's benefits, including his HIV medication. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the military's highest court, blocked the action as unconstitutional.
The military high court said dropping Goldsmith from the rolls would be double jeopardy, because it would punish him twice for the same offence.
The Air Force, supported by the Justice Department, then asked the Supreme Court for review, contending that the military high court exceeded its jurisdiction and erred in assessing the merits of Goldsmith's case.
The Supreme Court today agreed to review the case. Argument should be heard this spring. (No. 98-147, Clinton et al. vs. Goldsmith)
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