Sometimes a title says it all. Kara Dixon Vuic, the LCpl. Benjamin W. Schmidt Professor of War, Conflict, and Society in 20th-Century America, recently penned a column for the History News Network titled A Faulty Court Precedent on Selective Service Leaves the Last Legal Sex Discrimination in Place.
“This June, by refusing to hear the case National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System, the Supreme Court allowed the last vestige of legal sex discrimination in American jurisprudence to stand,” she wrote.
Vuic recaps that the United States military has never drafted women, despite several legal challenges and updated laws and policies that have provided for more gender equity in the services. This case saw both the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Coalition for Men arguing that the exclusion of women from Selective Service registration violates men’s constitutional right to equal protection.
The Supreme Court declined to hear the case, deferring the matter to Congress.
“Congress, of course, makes the law that guides Selective Service, and Congress should revisit the matter. Trouble is, Congress has been revisiting the matter for many years, so forgive me if I’m skeptical that it will address the question in any timely fashion,” Vuic wrote.
“What troubles me most about the SCOTUS refusal to hear National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System is that it has refused to hear a case based on what Congress might do. It has declined to rule on the law as it stands, and in doing so has made it all the more difficult for anyone to challenge male-only registration in the future.”