Biden administration asks Supreme Court not to hear challenge to all male draft

"The registration requirement is one of the last sex-based classifications in federal law," the ACLU said.
Supreme Court exterior

The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court not to hear a lawsuit that arguing the all-male U.S. military draft is unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs  – the National Coalition for Men and two males – are being represented by the ACLU.

"The registration requirement is one of the last sex-based classifications in federal law," the ACLU said in their brief. "It imposes selective burdens on men, reinforces the notion that women are not full and equal citizens, and perpetuates stereotypes about men's and women's capabilities."

Acting Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar argued in her statement sent to the Supreme Court in earlier this month that the high court should not decide the outcome of this matter because Congress is considering whether women should also be required to sign up for the Selective Service System, according to The Washington Post.

The Selective Service System, which is the country's mandatory draft registration, now requires only males 18 to 26 to sign up and provide information to the military should the draft be re-instituted.

"Any reconsideration of the constitutionality of the male-only registration requirement, however, would be premature at this time," Prelogar said in her statement. "The court should defer to Congress where possible in this sensitive military context."

Congress set up a special commission to explore the possibility of women entering the draft.

The last time the court heard this issue was in 1981 in the Rostker v. Goldberg case, in which the justices voted 6-3 against women for the draft.