Smith v. United States

This case presents the court with a procedural tangle which again illustrates one of its needs for declaratory judgment authority such as other courts of the United States have, 28 U.S.C. § 2201 (1976), but denied to the Court of Claims by United States v. King, 395 U.S. 1 (1969), except where Congress has expressly granted such authority as it has done, for instance, in tax cases involving exempt organizations. 28 U.S.C. § 1507 (1976).

In the instant case, plaintiff was denied conversion from a temporary to a permanent status as a career deputy United States Marshal and lost his temporary…