Supreme Court justices seemed keenly interested Wednesday in the history of the GI Bill and whether Congress intended to extend military education benefits past 36 months when it introduced the Post-9/11 GI Bill for wartime veterans in 2008.
The court heard oral arguments in a case, Rudisill v. McDonough, that will determine whether some veterans who qualified for the Montgomery GI Bill, or MGIB, and the Post-9/11 GI Bill should receive benefits under both programs for up to four years.
In the case, the federal government has argued that a veteran eligible for the MGIB who later was eligible for the more generous Post-9/11 GI Bill when it was introduced had to make a decision and, in doing so, agreed to combine the two programs for 36 months of eligibility — the maximum allowed under each separately.
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Attorneys for James Rudisill, the plaintiff, pointed to a historic precedent under a Korean War-era law that allowed veterans to use benefits from a combination of programs for up to 48 months.
During arguments Wednesday, at least five justices asked about past history of overlap in GI Bill programs, the process for electing the benefit, and whether troops had a choice if they had used some or most of their MGIB benefits.
According to the law, service members aren’t permitted to use GI Bill programs…
