Over the last few years, there has been action in the United States Congress regarding whether or not to expand Selective Service registration requirements and any potential military draft to include women as well as men. Much of the support for this move has been explained as an effort to advance “equality.”
It looks like the US courts may beat the US legislative branch to expanding this realm of submission to government dictates to include women. Gregory Korte reported Sunday at USA Today that US District Judge Gray H. Miller declared Friday in a court case decision “that the all-male military draft is unconstitutional, ruling that ‘the time has passed’ for a debate on whether women belong in the military.”
Here is the key conclusion of Judge Miller in the Southern District of Texas case National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System:
In short, 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 of registration for a draft.” Rostker, 453 U.S. at 78. If there ever was a time to discuss “the place of women in the Armed Services,” that time has passed. Id. At 72. 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.
Ron Paul wrote about the prospect of drafting women into the US military in his May of 2016 editorial “Drafting Women Means Equality in Slavery.”
