Supreme Court to Hear Veteran’s Claim He Was Unfairly Denied Education Benefits

U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough gives remarks at a National Veterans Day Observance ceremony in the amphitheater of the Arlington National Ceremony in Arlington, Virginia, on Nov. 11, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case that could make 1.7 million post-9/11 veterans eligible for additional education benefits potentially worth billions of dollars.

The case is about whether a veteran who qualifies for education benefits under multiple GI Bill programs is required to use up or abandon the benefits of one program in order to take advantage of benefits under another.

The justices agreed to hear the case, Rudisill v. McDonough (court file 22-888), in an unsigned order issued in the final days of the court’s recent session that wrapped up on June 30. The court did not explain its decision. No justices dissented. Oral arguments in the case are expected in the court’s new term that begins in October.

The petitioner is FBI Special Agent James Rudisill, a decorated U.S. Army veteran. The respondent is U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, who is being sued in his official capacity. McDonough was previously White House chief of staff in then-President Barack Obama’s second term.

The case centers on the Department of Veterans Affairs’s (VA) interpretation of administrative provisions of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, also known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which then-President George W. Bush signed into law on June 30, 2008.

“We also owe a debt of gratitude to our nation’s military families,” Mr. Bush said at the time.

“They endure sleepless nights, and the daily struggle of caring for children while a loved one is serving far from home. We have a responsibility to provide for them.

“So I’m pleased that the bill I sign today includes an expansion of the GI Bill. This legislation will make it easier for our troops to transfer unused education benefits to their spouses and children. It will help us to recruit and reward the best military on the face of the Earth. It will help us to meet our responsibilities to those who support our troops every day—America’s great military families.”

Generous Benefits

The law was enacted to provide enhanced educational benefits that were markedly more generous than the then-prevailing peacetime Montgomery GI Bill, a Korean War-era law that permits veterans to use benefits from any individual programs or a combination of them up to 48 months. Congress approved the Post-9/11 measure in recognition of the “especially arduous” wartime service required of veterans since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Mr. Rudisill’s attorneys, Timothy McHugh and Misha Tseytlin of Troutman Pepper in Chicago, said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times.

“Should we prevail in the U.S. Supreme Court, approximately 1.7 million Post-9/11 veterans will be eligible to receive additional educational benefits totaling billions of dollars,” Mr. McHugh and Mr. Tseytlin said.

“This would be transformative for millions of veterans, their families, and their communities.”

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs building is seen in Washington on July 22, 2019. (Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images)

After enlisting in 2000, Mr. Rudisill spent almost eight aggregate years in the Army over three separate tours, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. He received an honorable discharge in 2002 and studied for an undergraduate degree using a portion of the 36 months of Montgomery benefits he accumulated, according to the petition (pdf) his lawyers filed with the Supreme Court.

He enlisted a second time while in college, serving in 2004 and 2005, and resumed his studies after receiving a second honorable discharge, using up about 25-and-a-half months of Montgomery benefits, which left him with 10-and-a-half months under that program.

Mr. Rudisill was then commissioned as an officer in the Army and served from 2007 to 2011, rising to the rank of captain. After a third honorable discharge, he began working as an agent in the FBI’s domestic terrorism unit. He has also served since 2019 as an ensign in the Navy Reserve.

Serving a 4th Time

He wanted to serve a fourth time, this time as an Army chaplain and was accepted to Yale Divinity School, believing he could use Post-9/11 benefits earned during his second and third tours to cover the high cost of attending the school. He understood that he had earned 36 months of Post-9/11 benefits but that he could only use 22-and-a-half months because he had previously used Montgomery benefits, which are subject to a cap.

Mr. Rudisill applied in 2015 to the VA for the Post-9/11 benefits but instead of giving him the 22-and-a-half months, the agency ruled he was only entitled to 10-and-a-half months of Montgomery benefits because he had not “completely exhausted” the Montgomery benefits. The VA informed him that he had to forfeit the 10-and-a-half months of Montgomery benefits for an equivalent amount of Post-9/11 benefits even though his entitlement “to Post-9/11 benefits stems from periods of service that are separate and distinct from the period of service establishing his entitlement to Montgomery,” the petition stated.

“That is, the VA would not allow [Mr. Rudisill] to claim his entire Post-9/11 entitlement,  subject to the 48-month aggregate cap based upon his prior usage, and required him to give up his remaining Montgomery entitlement if he wanted to receive Post-9/11 benefits before exhausting his Montgomery benefits, simply because he had first received some Montgomery benefits.”

Mr. Rudisill appealed to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, which affirmed the VA’s conclusion that he would only receive 10-and-a-half months of Post-9/11 benefits.

He appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, which sided with him, finding the law should be interpreted to allow him to receive benefits under both programs, subject to the prescribed cap.

The government appealed and a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sided with Mr. Rudisill.

The government appealed again and this time the full Federal Circuit ruled in favor of the VA, a ruling the petition called a “nonsensical, anti-veteran result.”

“Never once has Congress required a veteran who qualified for multiple GI Bill programs, based on separate and distinct periods of qualifying service, to first forfeit or exhaust one benefit in order to obtain another,” according to the petition.

The Epoch Times has reached out for comment to the U.S. Department of Justice, which is representing McDonough.