Judge rules men-only military draft is discriminatory

A federal judge in Texas ruled Friday that requiring men but not women to register for the military draft is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Gray Miller agreed with the plaintiffs, two draft-age men who filed suit in 2013, that the men-only draft is a form of sex-based discrimination. His decision does not require the government to immediately change its policy.

Miller rejected the Supreme Court’s 1981 ruling that women did not have to register for the draft because they could not serve in combat, saying it no longer applied since the Department of Defense lifted that ban in 2013. Congress eliminated the draft in the 1970s, but U.S. men ages 18 to 25 are still required to provide basic information to the Selective Service System.

Attorney Marc Angelucci of the National Coalition for Men said in a statement that since men “face prison, fines, and denial of federal loans for not registering,” women “should face the same repercussions.” The government had asked Miller to delay the lawsuit until the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service concluded a report ordered by Congress on whether women should have to register. The final recommendations are due by March 2020.