A military draft that applies only to men is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Houston has ruled, saying that excluding women is no longer justified because they can now serve in combat roles just as men do.

Judge Gray H. Miller of Federal District Court in the Southern District of Texas took note of the Supreme Court’s 1981 ruling that the exclusion of women from the draft was “fully justified” because women then were not allowed to serve in combat. But the Pentagon abolished those restrictions in 2015, opening the way for women to serve in any military role for which they could qualify.

“While historical restrictions on women in the military may have justified past discrimination, men and women are now ‘similarly situated for purposes of a draft or registration for a draft,’” Judge Miller wrote in his ruling. “If there ever was a time to discuss ‘the place of women in the Armed Services,’ that time has passed.”

Though no one has been conscripted into the United States military in more than 40 years, the Military Selective Service Act requires all American men to register when they turn 18, in case a draft is reinstated; they remain eligible through age 25. Men who do not register can be fined, imprisoned and denied services like federal student loans.</s>A federal judge has ruled that a men-only military draft is unconstitutional, but he stopped short of ordering the Selective Service System to register women.

The Houston judge sided with a San Diego men’s advocacy group that challenged the government’s practice of having only men sign up for the draft, citing sex discrimination in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection clause.

“This case balances on the tension between the constitutionally enshrined power of Congress to raise armies and the constitutional mandate that no person be denied the equal protection of the law,” wrote U.S. District Judge Gray Miller of the Southern District of Texas.

The lawsuit was filed in 2013 against the Selective Service System by Texas resident James Lesmeister, who later added San Diego resident Anthony Davis and the San Diego-based National Coalition for Men as additional plaintiffs.

The two men had standing to sue the government because they were within the age range of 18 to 26 in which men in the United States are required to register with Selective Service.

“Forcing only males to register is an aspect of socially institutionalized male disposability and helps reinforce the stereotypes that support discrimination against men in other areas” such as divorce, child custody and domestic violence services, Coalition attorney Marc Angelucci said. “Women are now allowed in combat, so this decision is long overdue. After decades of sex discrimination against men in the Selective Service, the courts have finally found it unconstitutional to force only men to register.”

The government asked the judge to dismiss the suit or stay a decision until a national commission studying the issue of women’s draft registration reaches a recommendation.

The judge noted that could take years, and even then Congress isn’t required to follow the commission’s findings.

“Congress has been debating the male-only registration requirement since at least 1980,” Miller wrote.

The government referred to a 1981 U.S. Supreme Court decision that the Military Selective Service Act was constitutional as written, to exclude women, because women restricted from combat were not offered similar opportunities that men had.

Miller found that reasoning no longer applicable, since the Department of Defense lifted all gender-based restrictions on military service — including combat roles — in 2015.

The judge likewise disagreed with the government’s position that drafting women would be an administrative burden and that far more women than men will be found physically unfit for service after being drafted.

Congress has expressed few concerns about female physical ability, but did focus more on societal consequences of drafting young mothers to go off to war, Miller said.

“If there was ever a time to discuss ‘the place of women in the Armed Services,’ that time has passed,” Miller wrote.</s>ASSOCIATED PRESS A federal judge in Texas ruled that requiring men but not women to register for the draft is unconstitutional.

A federal judge has ruled that requiring men but not women to register for selective service is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller, in a ruling issued in Houston on Friday, denied the government’s motion to stay a lawsuit brought by the National Coalition for Men, a “men’s rights” group. The group argued the Military Selective Service Act violated the 14th Amendment’s clause for equal protection under the law.

The judge noted that a 1981 Supreme Court case, Rostker v. Goldberg, ruled that a male-only draft was justified because women weren’t allowed to serve in combat. But since then, “women’s opportunities in the military have expanded dramatically,” the judge wrote. All gender-based restrictions on military service were lifted in 2015.

“While historical restrictions on women in the military may have justified past discrimination, men and women are now ‘similarly situated for purposes of a draft or registration for a draft,’” Miller wrote.

While the draft was technically discontinued in 1973 after the Vietnam War, men ages 18 to 26 are required to sign up for the Selective Service System, a register that can be used in case quick military conscription is deemed necessary. Men can be denied programs such as federal student loans if they fail to sign up.

The judge’s ruling is declaratory, which means it doesn’t force the government to immediately take action. But it comes as the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service is reviewing the need for a military draft, including whether women should be subject. It expects to issue a final report in March 2020. An interim report acknowledged various opinions on women and the draft, but didn’t indicate which way the commission was leaning.

Conservatives in Congress tanked a bipartisan effort to require women to sign up for the draft in November 2016. “I cannot in good conscience vote to draft our daughters into the military, sending them off to war and forcing them into combat,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said earlier in the year.</s>Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Requiring men but not women to register for the military draft is unconstitutional, a Houston federal court judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Gray Miller denied a government motion on Friday to stay a suit brought by the men's rights advocacy group National Coalition for Men. The organization is seeking an injunction that orders the Selective Service System to require that registration for the draft be extended to include women.

Miller noted that the Supreme Court, in 1981, excluded women from the draft because they were ineligible for combat duty. Since they are now eligible, and since a draft is typically required when combat positions need to be filled, excluding women from draft registration is incorrect.

"Women's opportunities in the military have expanded dramatically," Miller wrote in his 19-page decision. "In 2013 the Department of Defense officially lifted the ban on women in combat. In 2015 the Department of Defense lifted all gender-based restrictions on military service. Thus, women are now eligible for all military service roles, including combat positions."

Although the draft ended in 1973, all U.S. men between ages 18 and 26 must still register with the Selective Service System so that if military conscription became warranted, it could quickly begin.</s>(CNN) -- A federal judge who ruled the Selective Service System's men-only registration unconstitutional late Friday rejected the reasoning of a 1981 Supreme Court decision, opting for the recent women's rights rationale of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the contemporary court.

US District Court Judge Gray Miller, based in Houston, spurned the government's argument about excluding women, based partly on their interest and readiness for combat, by declaring, "this argument smacks of archaic and overbroad generalizations about women's preferences."

Miller said that while "historical restrictions on women in the military may have justified past discrimination," men and women now have many similar roles.

"If there ever was a time to discuss the place of women in the Armed Services, that time has passed," he wrote. Miller said the Selective Service had not shown that the male-only registration requirement was "substantially related to Congress's objective of raising and supporting armies."

Congress eliminated the draft in the early 1970s, but all men ages 18-25 are required by law to provide basic personal information to the Selective Service System.

The judge's decision, favoring a group known as National Coalition for Men and two men of registration age, would have no immediate effect. It did not block the government's current policy. Any appeal by the agency would go to the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals before it would reach the Supreme Court.

It is uncertain whether it would reach that level. The Selective Service System had urged Miller to reject the case, largely because the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, appointed by Congress, is now studying the male-only registration policy.

Irrespective of the fate of the case on appeal, National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System recalls practice and precedent of another era.

The government agency relied heavily on a 1981 Supreme Court decision, Rostker v. Goldberg, that said women could be excluded from the draft because they were not "similarly situated" with men for draft purposes. That decision highlighted the fact that women could not serve in combat.

"In the nearly four decades since Rostker, however, women's opportunities in the military have expanded dramatically," Miller observed. "In 2013, the Department of Defense officially lifted the ban on women in combat."

He cited Ginsburg's majority opinions in equal rights cases since then for greater scrutiny on the military policy, the 1996 US v. Virginia and 2017 Sessions v. Morales-Santana.

"Typically, the defender of legislation that differentiates on the basis of gender must show 'at least that the challenged classification serves important governmental objectives and that the discriminatory means employed are substantially related to the achievement of those objectives.'"

He acknowledged the governmental objective of raising and supporting armies but did not accept arguments that requiring women to register might affect female enlistment "by increasing the perception that women will be forced to serve in combat roles."

"At its core, [the Selective Service System] argument rests on the assumption that women are significantly more combat-averse than men," Miller wrote, adding that no evidence was offered to support that claim, which he deemed "an ancient canard" about women.

"Further, under Rostker, the dispositive issue is whether men and women are similarly situated in regard to the draft," Miller wrote. "Thus, the relevant question is not what proportion of women are physically eligible for combat -- it may well be that only a small percentage of women meets the physical standards for combat positions."

But Miller added, a similarly small percentage of men may also be eligible for combat, which would offer no reason to discriminate against women.</s>A federal judge in Texas has declared that an all-male military draft is unconstitutional.

USA Today reported that the decision deals the biggest legal blow to the Selective Service System since the Supreme Court unheld the draft registration process back in 1981. In Rostker v. Goldberg, the court ruled that a male-only draft was “fully justified” because women were ineligible for combat roles. That changed in 2015, when the Pentagon lifted all restrictions for women in military service.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Gray Miller ruled that while historical restrictions on women serving in combat “may have justified past discrimination,” men and women are now equally able to fight.

The case was brought by the National Coalition for Men, USA Today reported.

All men are required to register for the Selective Service System on their 18th birthday. Those who don’t, can’t be denied federal employment benefits and student loans.

An 11-member commission is studying the future of the Selective Service System. They are expected to make recommendations on whether women should be included or if there should be a draft at all.

The U.S. has maintained an all-volunteer military since 1973.

The Selective Service System was reactivated in 1980 as a contingency in case the need arises.</s>US District Court Judge Gray Miller ruled late Friday that the Military Selective Service Act’s male-only registration is unconstitutional.

The challenge was brought by a group known as the National Coalition for Men and two men subject to the registration requirements.

The Selective Service System had argued that the case was controlled by a 1981 Supreme Court ruling, Rostker v. Goldberg, that said women could be excluded from the draft because they were not “similarly situated” with men for draft purposes. That decision highlighted the fact that women could not serve in combat.

“In the nearly four decades since Rostker, however, women’s opportunities in the military have expanded dramatically. In 2013, the Department of Defense officially lifted the ban on women in combat,” Miller, of the Southern District of Texas, wrote.

“In short,” he concluded, “while historical restrictions on women in the military may have justified past discrimination, men and women are now similarly situated for purposes of a draft or registration for a draft. If there ever was a time to discuss the place of women in the Armed Services, that time has based. Defendants have not carried the burden of showing that the male-only registration requirement continues to be substantially related to Congress’s objective of raising and supporting armies.”

Miller did not issue an injunction against the federal policy.

A National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service has been studying the issue.

All men ages 18-25 are required by law to provide basic personal information to the Selective Service System.</s>A federal judge in Texas has declared that the all-male military draft is unconstitutional, ruling that “the time has passed” for a debate on whether women belong in the military. The decision deals the biggest legal blow to the Selective Service System since the Supreme Court upheld the draft in 1981. In Rostker v. Goldberg, the court ruled that the male-only draft was “fully justified” because women were ineligible for combat roles. But U.S. District Judge Gray Miller ruled late Friday that while historical restrictions on women serving in combat “may have justified past discrimination,” men and women are now equally able to fight. In 2015, the Pentagon lifted all restrictions for women in military service.</s>It's been almost 40 years since the Supreme Court upheld the male-only draft was "fully justified," though opinions are changing.

A federal judge in Texas on Friday declared the all-male Selective Service System is unconstitutional and ruled that "the time has passed" for a debate on whether women belong in the military, according to the USA Today.

Restrictions on women serving in the military were lifted in 2015 by the Pentagon.

The court ruled in the 1981 Rostker v. Goldberg case that women were ineligible for combat roles, thus, making the draft justifiable. Last week, U.S. District Judge Gray Miller ruled while historical restrictions on women serving in combat "may have justified past discrimination," men and women now are equally able to fight, the USA Today reports.

Men's rights group, National Coalition For Men, took the case to court and argued the all-male draft was unfair.

"Either they need to get rid of the draft registration, or they need to require women to do the same thing that men do," Marc Angelucci, the lawyer for the group challenging the draft, told the USA Today.

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Have a news tip? Email desk@wtsp.com, or visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.</s>A federal court judge in Texas has struck a blow for “feminism,” ruling Friday that a men-only draft is unconstitutional and represents an instance of “gender-based discrimination” under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the judge “sided with a San Diego men’s advocacy group that challenged the government’s practice of having only men sign up for the draft,” though the judge “stopped short of ordering the Selective Service System to register women for military service.”

Two men in Texas, who were then of age to register for the Selective Service System, filed suit against the government over the draft back in 2013, claiming that it was unfair to discriminate against women in the draft, particularly given that women now serve in front-line combat roles in the military and are competing with men for some of the military’s most difficult roles.

A San Diego “men’s rights” group, the National Coalition for Men, eventually joined in the suit.

“This case balances on the tension between the constitutionally enshrined power of Congress to raise armies and the constitutional mandate that no person be denied the equal protection of the law,” the judge wrote in his decision. He added that a decision was needed because Congress has been debating the issue of drafting women for decades with no result.- READ MORE
A federal judge rules that the exclusion of women from the Selective Service System is unconstitutional.