A federal court ruling that it's unconstitutional to require only men to register for the draft will increase the pressure on Congress to either expand the draft or eliminate it. But as a practical matter, the decision by U.S. District Judge Gray Miller late Friday won't change draft registration overnight. As of Monday, the Selective Service System still registers only men, and an 11-member commission appointed by Congress to study the issue is due to report back next year. "The court ruling itself changes nothing as far as the commission is concerned," said Joe Heck, the Army general and former congressman who chairs the National Commission for Military, National and Public Service. That process could lead to any number of outcomes – only one of which is that women would be required to register for the draft. Some questions and answers about women in the draft: Q: Will the decision be appealed? A: Justice Department spokeswoman Kelly Laco declined to comment Sunday. But lawyers involved in the issue say the government will probably have no choice but to appeal the ruling to defend an act of Congress. The next step would be the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Miller denied a stay of his ruling, so the government would likely seek first to temporarily block the ruling while it's appealed. Q: Didn't the Supreme Court already decide this issue? A: Yes. In 1981, the Supreme Court ruled in Rostker v. Goldberg that Congress had a reasonable basis to exclude women from the draft because at the time, combat positions were off-limits to women. That law has not changed, Miller said. But the facts have. "In the nearly four decades since Rostker, however, women's opportunities in the military have expanded dramatically," Miller said. "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 Thus, women are now eligible for all military service roles, including combat positions." Q: Has the draft registration process changed as a result of the decision? A: In the short term, no. Miller made a declaratory judgment finding that the current system is unconstitutional. But, notably, he did not issue an injunction. There is no immediate court order requiring any particular change to the Selective Service requirement. The Selective Service System said Monday that it is continuing its operations as usual. "As an independent agency of the executive branch, the Selective Service System does not make policy and follows the law as written," legislative liaison Jacob Daniels said in a statement. "As such, until Congress modifies the Military Selective Service Act or a court orders Selective Service to change our standard operating procedure, the following remains in effect: (1) Men between ages 18 and 25 are required to register with Selective Service and (2) Women are not required to register with Selective Service.” Q: Does the decision mean women will be required to register with the Selective Service? A: Not necessarily. If the district court's ruling is upheld, it could mean one of three things: ► Women would have to register for the draft at their 18th birthday, just like men; ► Selective Service would be eliminated entirely, and neither men nor women would have to register; or ► Selective Service would become voluntary and men and women could continue to register, but would not lose any benefits if they fail to do so. "There are several different potential outcomes that the commission is considering," Heck said. "That's why it’s so important that we talk not just to policy experts but the American public." The commission will hold a public hearing on the issue on April 24 and 25 at Gallaudet University in Washington, and is seeking public comment at inspire2serve.gov. More:Should women be required to register for the draft? Commission likely to recommend big changes Q: What is the Pentagon's position? A: The Department of Defense wants to keep the Selective Service System as a backstop to the all-volunteer military. And in a report to Congress in 2017, it went on record to support including women. "It would appear imprudent to exclude approximately 50 percent of the population – the female half – from availability for the draft in the case of a national emergency," officials said at the time. "And, if a draft becomes necessary, the public must see that it is fair and equitable. For that to happen, the maximum number of eligible persons must be registered." Even if there's never a draft, the Pentagon sees benefits to an all-volunteer force from including women in Selective Service. One such benefit: The number of recruiting leads that the Pentagon could target with direct mail would double. Q: What is President Trump's position? A: Shortly before President Barack Obama left office, Obama expressed support for universal draft registration regardless of sex as "a logical next step." President Donald Trump has been mostly silent on the issue. In a 2017 memorandum to the commission studying the draft, Trump asked the panel to "ensure close examination of … the feasibility and advisability of modifying the Selective Service process to leverage individuals with critical skills for which the Nation has a need without regard to age or sex." Q: Why do we need Selective Service, and what happens to the draft if it goes away? A: President Richard Nixon ended the draft in 1973, as the United States was attempting to wind down its involvement in the Vietnam War. President Jimmy Carter created the Selective Service System in 1980, after Russia invaded Afghanistan. The intent was to identify a pool of young men available to be drafted in case of a national emergency. But the United States drafted men into war even before draft registration, and could do so again. The Constitution gives Congress the power to "raise and support Armies." The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that this gives Congress the power of conscription. Q: How are transgender people handled in the draft? A: President Donald Trump has moved to ban transgender people from the military.<doc-sep>“It does seem like the folks for and against fall into two distinct groups,” he said. “The younger folks — the 18- to 25-year-olds — are all saying that, yes, women should have to register. That it’s a matter of equality — and that’s both males and females. But when you get to an older demographic, those are the ones who are more reluctant to have women register. Those are the ones saying, ‘Don’t draft our daughters.’ ”<doc-sep>Though the judge's ruling does not make a call to action, a federal commission is currently reviewing the possibility of expanding the Selective Service registration requirement to women. Women have been eligible to serve in military combat since 2015. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) A federal judge in Texas has issued a declaratory ruling making it unconstitutional to draft only men for military service. Since 1940, all male citizens and residents of the United States have been required to register for Selective Service when they turn 18, even though the induction of draft registrants ended in 1973. From the time the draft was instated, women were ineligible to serve in combat, until 2015, when the Pentagon decided to allow qualified women to serve in any military role. "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 Gray H. 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." The issue was brought forward by the National Coalition for Men (NCFM), a men's rights organization, on the grounds of gender-based discrimination under the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. "After decades of sex discrimination against men in the Selective Service, the courts have finally found it unconstitutional to force only men to register," NCFM attorney Marc Angelucci said in a press release. "Even without a draft, men still face prison, fines, and denial of federal loans for not registering or for not updating the government of their whereabouts. Since women will be required to register with the Selective Service, they should face the same repercussions as men for any noncompliance." Since Miller's ruling is declaratory, it makes no specific call to action on the part of the government. However, Congress created the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service in 2017 during debates over the inclusion of women in the Selective Service registration requirement. The commission has undertaken a project with two primary tasks: to review the Selective Service registration process and to "examine and recommend ways to increase participation in military, national and public service." The commission recently published an interim report to share what it has learned during its first two years of research as well as potential ways to increase military participation. Among other possibilities, the commission noted that it is considering an option to expand the Selective Service registration requirement to women. The commission is also considering the implementation of a universal service system that could require every American to serve in the military. Pacific Standard's Kate Wheeling explored what a universal service system could look like in her 2016 article "Should Women Register for the Draft?" She pointed to the universal service requirement in the Israeli Defense Forces as an example: According to a report from the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence, research on the IDF shows that "during service Commanders have recognised that female combatants often exhibit superior skills in areas such as discipline and motivation, maintaining alertness, shooting abilities, managing tasks in an organized manner, and displaying knowledge and professionalism in the use of weapons." The same report found that the successful integration of women in traditionally male-dominated combat roles was largely dependent on military leaders. "If the Commander was to express belief in [women's] ability and considered them to be equal to their male counterparts, then they would eventually become ‘one of the gang,'" the authors wrote. Gender-neutral compulsory service in Israel may indirectly influence soldiers' experience with post-traumatic stress. The IDF boasts notoriously low rates of post-traumatic stress disorder after combat—as low as 1.5 percent by some counts. Of course, given the military culture's tendency to dissuade soldiers from seeking help, prevalence rates of psychological trauma after warfare are likely to be underestimated. Still, those estimates fall well below the 10 to 20 percent of United States veterans diagnosed with the disorder. It's this universality of military service that would benefit Israeli soldiers, according to Arieh Shalev, a psychiatry professor at New York University's School of Medicine. "The fact that males and females are drafted in Israel, it really influences what the attitude is about being at war and serving in the military," he says. "It's making the military service everyone's experience." The National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service will continue to conduct research, hold public hearings, and seek comments on the U.S. military service system until its final report is due to Congress in March of 2020. A public hearing will be held on April 24th and 25th, 2019, in Washington, D.C., on the subject of Selective Service.<doc-sep>More than 45 years after the military draft ended, a federal judge has ruled that a law requiring men but not women to register for it is unconstitutional. In a ruling issued late Friday in Houston, U.S. District Judge Gray Miller denied the government's motion to stay a lawsuit originally brought by the National Coalition for Men, a nonprofit "men's rights" advocacy group, which is seeking an injunction ordering the Selective Service System to require women to register for the draft. The draft, itself, ended during the final stages of the Vietnam War in 1973, but all American men ages 18 to 26 are still required to register with the Selective Service System so the military could move quickly if it ever needed to reinstate conscription. Miller, who was appointed to the court by President George W. Bush in 2006, noted that the Supreme Court upheld excluding women from the draft in 1981 because women were excluded from combat duty. Because that prohibition was lifted in 2015, he wrote, excluding them from registering for the draft made no constitutional sense. "If there ever was a time to discuss 'the place of women in the Armed Services,' that time has passed," he wrote. The government had asked Miller to delay the case pending a final report from the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, which, among other military staffing issues, is reviewing whether women should be required to register. A final report isn't expected until March 2020; an interim report last month gave no indication which way the commission is leaning. While Miller sided with the coalition in his ruling late Friday, his judgment didn't order the government to change its draft rules because the immediate issue was the government's request for a stay, not the coalition's larger request for an injunction. "Women are now allowed in combat, so this decision is long overdue," said Marc Angelucci, an attorney for the coalition, who said women "should face the same repercussions as men for any noncompliance" with registration laws. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights monitor, has likened the National Coalition for Men, which is based in San Diego, to male supremacist groups seeking to roll back protections for women. In a statement Saturday, the coalition said the male-only draft "is an aspect of socially institutionalized male disposability and helps reinforce the stereotypes that support discrimination against men in other areas such as child custody, divorce, criminal sentencing, paternity fraud, education, public benefits, domestic violence services, due process rights, genital autonomy, and more."<doc-sep>
The last time the United States drafted soldiers to fill the ranks of its military, it was 1973 and the Vietnam War was in its final stages. And yet registering with the Selective Service System remains a rite of passage for American men. Males between the ages of 18 and 25 must sign up or face the consequences. Now, even though America hasn't held a draft in nearly 50 years, Selective Service is back in the news. U.S. District Court Judge Gray Miller has ruled that forcing only men and not women to register is unconstitutional. Here's what's going on. Selective Service Director Curtis Tarr spins the drum containing the sequence capsules, as the draft lottery got underway in the Commerce Department auditorium. The lottery was to determine the callup order of nearly 2 million young men turning 19. Bettmann Getty Images Where Did This Case Come From? You can't have a high court ruling without a case. The spark that led to Judge Miller's ruling was, of all things, a suit by a "men's rights" organization, the National Coalition for Men. It may be surprising to hear, given the sudden spike in news about such groups in the last several years, but the coalition's website says it has been active since 1977. What's Their Argument? In a statement regarding the court victory, the group's lawyer 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. Even without a draft, men still face prison, fines, and denial of federal loans for not registering or for not updating the government of their whereabouts. Since women will be required to register with the Selective Service, they should face the same repercussions as men for any noncompliance.” Who's on the Other Side? The federal government. In arguing against the men's coalition and saying that draft registration should remain male-only, the government leaned on a case from 1981 that went to the Supreme Court. That case ruled that women were not "similarly situated" compared to men when it comes to combat, and therefore the different treatment was okay. Back in 1981, women couldn't serve in combat. But that was then. In 2013, the Department of Defense lifted the ban on women serving in combat, and the military would life more gender-based restrictions in the years to come. What the Judge Decided Judge Miller ruled the male-only draft registration unconstitutional, and cited a couple of reasons. One was the obvious fact that we just discussed—basically, if women can serve in combat, then there's no case that they're not as combat-ready as men and ought to be kept out of registering with Selective Service. The government put forth a separate but related argument, which NPR outlines: The government argued that requiring women to register for the draft might make them less likely to enlist by "increasing the perception that women will be forced to serve in combat roles," he said. But that argument, Miller said, "smacks of archaic and overbroad generalizations" about women's preferences. "Defendants' argument rests on the assumption that women are significantly more combat-averse than men," the judge said, noting that the government hadn't presented any evidence to support that claim. Does This Change Anything? Not right now, no. The government could appeal the case, National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System, to the Circuit Court of Appeals and then to the Supreme Court if necessary, which could tie up the issue in the legal systems for months and years to come. There's another reason all this sound and fury might not mean very much. Selective Service had urged Judge Miller not to take this case in the first place because the government is currently in the process of reevaluating how it does the draft and draft registration. The Congressionally appointed National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service issued its most recent report before this ruling and says it is "considering and actively seeking input on this crucial question." Will the Draft Ever Return? Young men hold their burning draft cards aloft at an Anti-Vietnam War demonstration in front of the Pentagon in Washington DC. Bettmann Getty Images Now there's a loaded question. Conscription has a deep history in America, as soldiers were drafted during the American Revolution, the Civil War, both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam.