ACLU Wants SCOTUS to Review Military Draft, Claims Sends Message Women ‘Less Fit’ to ‘Serve Country’

The United States has not had to rely upon a draft since the Vietnam War, but the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Ria Tabacco Mar wants the Supreme Court to amend the law, the Military Selective Service Act. No, her concern is not just what the draft means in practicality, but rather, the “harmful message” it oozes.

Requiring men to register imposes a “serious burden on men that’s not being imposed on women” she says. The Associated Press reports “men who do not register can lose eligibility for student loans and civil service jobs, and failing to register is also a felony punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and five years in prison.”

Once again, the consequences men could face is not Mar’s sole concern. “It’s also sending a tremendously harmful message that women are less fit than men to serve their country in this particular way and conversely that men are less fit than women to stay home as caregivers in the event of an armed conflict,” she said.

“We think those stereotypes demean both men and women” she added. Mar represents the National Coalition For Men as well as two individual men challenging the law. The National Organization for Women Foundation and a group of retired senior military officers are also hoping the Court will take up the case.

“If the court agrees to hear the case, it wouldn’t be deciding whether women have to register, just whether the current system is constitutional. If it isn’t, then it would then be up to Congress to decide how to respond, either by passing a law requiring everyone to register or deciding registration is no longer necessary” reports the AP.

Biden administration lawyers do not want SCOTUS to assess the legislation for constitutionality so that Congress alone can be in control of the Act’s future. Just last year, a congressional commission concluded that the ‘time is right’ to extend the obligation to register to women. “The current disparate treatment of women unacceptably excludes women from a fundamental civic obligation and reinforces gender stereotypes about the role of women, undermining national security,” the commission said in a report.