Judge in federal court (southern district of Texas) says that male only military draft is unconstitutional.
Could have peripheral impact on college matters, specifically in that draft eligible male college students must register for the Selective Service System to get federal financial aid.
Thanks for sharing @ucbalumnus. Regardless of whether we can share our reactions or not, due to CC’s no politics rule, this is really important information for parents of draft age children.
I wonder whether they’ll institute registration for women, or cancel it for men. For sure the Federal government will fight it, since there is no choice that will play out well for them. Not a pleasant place to be for any administration.
I’d support a uniform requirement that every citizen register for the draft at age 18 if the system were also tied to automatic, permanent voter registration.
Interesting. If this is upheld, I wonder how they plan on relaying the change to young women. And, if it would apply to women who have already turned 18 before the law would take effect.
Wonder what affect this decision might soon have on the FAFSA application, with only males currently having to answer the question of whether they submitted their Selective Service registration. Is the constitutionality of “involuntary servitude” the next question to be raised? I’ve always wondered about that one, but I’m guessing that a court will find a plaintiff doesn’t have “standing” until such time as an actual draft is reinstated and the plaintiff is drafted.
This always seemed logical to me. If women want to be treated equally, we should be treated equally.
Yes. If we have the rights of citizenship, we should have the responsibility.
That assumes the draft should be a responsibility of citizenship. I vehemently disagree.
We’ve been at war literally my entire life. I’ve lost more than a few loved ones to war. It’s unconscionable to me that we still have even the remnants of a system as destructive as forced military service.
I hope the draft is abolished long before my niblings have to register.
And before anyone says that I’m over reacting because the draft won’t be reinstated, then I’d ask what the purpose of the draft is if it’ll never be used again. Seems quite unnecessary.
The US military has been all volunteer since the early 70s, but a registration requirement remains in place to support a draft in case of a national emergency. Men and women are equal in terms of ability for military service, so having everyone register makes sense.
Seems like the correct result legally.
By the way, the Supreme court upheld the constitutionality of the draft over 100 years ago, and continues to affirm that.
Finally!
@roycroftmom Remember that the constitutionality of slavery had been upheld in the past by the Supreme Court, too. Sometimes times and legal opinions do change. Perhaps they will once again.
My daughter plays three sports, but she only weighs 120 lbs. There is no way she should be fighting in combat. She doesn’t have the mentality for it and she doesn’t have the physical strength to be a soldier.
The same is true for some men, Tpike. There is no longer a legal basis for a distinction in government action. I’m quite confident the SC will continue to uphold the constitutionlaity of the draft, as well as the fact that there won’t be a draft in my lifetime for political reasons.
An interesting article citing a 2017 Pentagon study that over 71% of young Americans aged 17-24 are ineligible to serve in the military due to obesity, other health problems, inadequate education, or criminality.:
https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/the-looming-national-security-crisis-young-americans-unable-serve-the-military
If everyone is equal, then we should get rid of all gender based activities. HIgh schools and colleges should not have womens and mens teams. Instead they should have one varsity team for lacrosse, basketball, soccer, track, volleyball, baseball, softball and let the boys and girls compete equally for spots on the team. Solves the transgender problem too! Equality for everyone.
The draft hasn’t been implemented for 46 years. All the conflicts since then, they didn’t need to utilize it. Everyone who has joined the military since then has done it voluntarily.
But obviously, there is a good reason to have the draft. Should we have another major conflict with not enough volunteers, they would have the pool of people in place to draw from. As ugly as war is and as much as I abhor the thought of it, obviously you need to take precautions for things you hope will never happen. The house we live in has never burned down, probably won’t, but we still pay for fire insurance.
Women should be part of the draft, also. We are not weak and fragile beings, who must be protected by our men. If the worst happens, we are just as responsible for protecting our country as men are.
Lots of jobs in the military are not front line combat jobs, and many of today’s combat jobs do not require enormous physical size and strength. Indeed, even back in World War 2, one famous decorated Army unit had soldiers with average height of 5’3" and weight 125 pounds.
Now, the way the US military is now and the nature of wars that the US gets into now makes a draft extremely unlikely. In addition, as noted elsewhere, only about 29% of young people in the US do meet military recruiting standards. But the definition of such may not be what many people assume.