In June 1986, Carlin filed suit against the board of governors to get his job as Postmaster General back. Carlin claimed that he had been fired for refusing to steer a contract for sorting equipment to a company favored by Voss, the vice-chairman of the board. (About a month before Carlin filed suit, Voss had pleaded guilty to taking illegal payoffs in relation to the contract and resigned from the board.) However, Carlin's lawsuit was dismissed on the grounds that the Postal Reorganization Act did not allow judicial review of the board's decision to fire a Postmaster General. According to the district court, Congress had granted the board authority to fire a Postmaster General "for a good reason, bad reason or no reason at all."