FBI agent James Rudisill, a decorated Army veteran, has won a Supreme Court ruling that also could help other long-serving vets tap college educational benefits for themselves and their families that they earned under more than one version of the GI Bill.
Julia Rendleman / Sun-Times
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Tuesday in favor of decorated Army veteran James Rudisill in a case that questioned whether the federal government could limit college money for veterans who’d earned benefits under more than one version of the GI Bill.
The case could unlock greater educational benefits for veterans nationwide who, like Rudisill, had earned college benefits under both the Montgomery GI Bill, which covers tuition, and the newer, more generous Post-9/11 GI Bill, which pays for tuition, fees, housing and books. Federal law allows veterans to tap both plans up to a maximum of 48 months.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were the two dissenters in the case, which challenged a federal Department of Veterans Affairs decision against Rudisill.
Rudisill, a Virginia resident, was represented pro bono by team of lawyers that included Chicago attorney Misha Tseytlin of the law firm Troutman Pepper.
Rudisill had multiple periods of service before and after the Post-9/11 Bill took effect in 2009. His career, in which he rose to captain, included three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he was wounded by suicide bomb attacks and roadside bombs.
He later became an FBI agent but hoped to use his GI Bill benefits to attend Yale University’s divinity school and then re-enter the Army as a chaplain — a plan that was thwarted by a VA interpretation. The agency used what Rudisill called an “absurd” calculation of his benefits — a decision that shortchanged him out of 12 months of schooling.
Rudisill had used about 25 months of his Montgomery GI Bill benefits years ago as an undergraduate student. Knowing he had a 48-month maximum, he was counting on having almost two years of Post-9/11 benefits left to pay for the Yale program.
But the VA said that, if wanted to switch to his more valuable Post-9/11 benefits, he could get them for only the number of months that were left on his Montgomery plan, converting those to Post-9/11 benefits. But that would give him about 10 months of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits — not the 22 months he was expecting.
Writing for the majority in the Supreme Court ruling, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said Rudisill should have been able to use all 48 months of college benefits that he’d earned.
A careful reading of the statutes, Jackson wrote, showed that Rudisill already was entitled to two separate benefits and shouldn’t have had to give up on something he’d rightfully earned.
“The bottom line is this: Veterans who separately accrue benefits under both the Montgomery and Post-9/11 GI Bills are entitled to both benefits,” Jackson wrote.
Rudisill had gotten support in his court right from the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America as well as senators and representatives in Congress including the Republican vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee.
He also was backed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and attorneys general from 38 other red and blue states and the District of Columbia.
Raoul joined a friend-of-the-court brief filed by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares supporting a petition filed last year by Rudisill. The others included the top state legal officials in Wisconsin, Iowa and the District of Columbia.
“The men and women who have served in the military deserve our recognition and support for the sacrifices they and their families have made to protect our nation,” Raoul said in announcing the filing.
Rudisill had sued and won two times in court. But his last victory was overturned on appeal, leading him to take his case to the Supreme Court.
Many long-serving veterans have earned both Montgomery GI Bill and Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits. Service members contribute money to the Montgomery plan, which took effect in 1985 and will be phased out in 2030. Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, which were established in 2009, are given automatically to those who qualify.
Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War combat veteran and former Republican U.S. senator representing Nebraska, told the Sun-Times in 2023 that the Post-9/11 benefits he helped pass through Congress in 2008 were meant to help veterans, not limit them.
Asked about Rudisill’s case, Hagel said: “It’s the veteran who deserves the break here.”
McHugh, who has been fighting for Rudisill since 2015, said that, even though Rudisill, now 44, has passed the Army’s age limit for becoming a chaplain and abandoned that dream, he still plans to use the educational benefit for a master’s degree so he can do counseling work.
“He’s still going to get something out of it, which is fantastic,” McHugh said.