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Teenagers challenge male-only draft law
by David Weber
Friday, January 10, 2003
With a war in Iraq looming, a teenage brother and sister and three friends filed a federal lawsuit yesterday charging that the law requiring all 18-year-old males to register for a possible military draft is unconstitutional because it applies only to one gender.
Attorney Harvey A. Schwartz, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of his son, stepdaughter and their friends, said the goal is not to get young women registered, but to get the registration law struck down.
He said a broader motivation is to spur debate ``about the possibility of a draft and of having suburban kids being shipped across the world to fight a war.''
Alyce Burton, spokeswoman for the U.S. Selective Service System, which oversees the registration, said its constitutionality was tested in 1981 in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Rostker vs. Goldberg. The high court found that the law did not violate the Constitution.
``That decision was based on the very limited role of women at that time,'' Schwartz said. He said approximately 80 percent of military job titles are open to women and that women make up 15 percent of American armed forces personnel. They fly combat aircraft and serve on Navy combat ships.
He said the military presently prohibits women only from serving in units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground while being exposed to hostile fire.
``Times have changed dramatically. It's time for another look,'' Schwartz said.
Suffolk University Law School Associate Dean Marc Perlin said, ``Over the past 10 or 15 years, the Supreme Court has really changed the law in the equal protection area and has upped the standard for federal or state governments to pass statutes based on gender. However strong this case may have been 15 years ago, it's stronger today.''
Failure to register is punishable by a fine of as much as $10,000 and imprisonment for up to five years. Those who do not register also are ineligible for federal student financial aid benefits such as Pell grants, may not be employed by various federal agencies and could be denied drivers licenses in some states.
Schwartz said the seeds of the lawsuit were sown about six months ago at his family dinner table in Ipswich when his 18-year-old son, Samuel, bemoaned the fact he had to register, and 17-year-old stepsister Nicole Foley rejoiced at not having to do so.
They quickly moved on to talking about the inequality and wondered how it could be legal.
They were joined as plaintiffs in their lawsuit by friends Evan Simons, 18, Douglas Scandrett, 19, and Joseph Monty, 20.
Foley acknowledged yesterday that their lawsuit conceivably could result in the law being changed to require young women to register.
``The discrimination is kind of in favor of women,'' she said yesterday. ``But this is kind of an ethical thing. If you say women have the same rights as men, you're going to have to take the good with the bad.''
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/draf01102003.htm
by David Weber
Friday, January 10, 2003
With a war in Iraq looming, a teenage brother and sister and three friends filed a federal lawsuit yesterday charging that the law requiring all 18-year-old males to register for a possible military draft is unconstitutional because it applies only to one gender.
Attorney Harvey A. Schwartz, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of his son, stepdaughter and their friends, said the goal is not to get young women registered, but to get the registration law struck down.
He said a broader motivation is to spur debate ``about the possibility of a draft and of having suburban kids being shipped across the world to fight a war.''
Alyce Burton, spokeswoman for the U.S. Selective Service System, which oversees the registration, said its constitutionality was tested in 1981 in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Rostker vs. Goldberg. The high court found that the law did not violate the Constitution.
``That decision was based on the very limited role of women at that time,'' Schwartz said. He said approximately 80 percent of military job titles are open to women and that women make up 15 percent of American armed forces personnel. They fly combat aircraft and serve on Navy combat ships.
He said the military presently prohibits women only from serving in units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground while being exposed to hostile fire.
``Times have changed dramatically. It's time for another look,'' Schwartz said.
Suffolk University Law School Associate Dean Marc Perlin said, ``Over the past 10 or 15 years, the Supreme Court has really changed the law in the equal protection area and has upped the standard for federal or state governments to pass statutes based on gender. However strong this case may have been 15 years ago, it's stronger today.''
Failure to register is punishable by a fine of as much as $10,000 and imprisonment for up to five years. Those who do not register also are ineligible for federal student financial aid benefits such as Pell grants, may not be employed by various federal agencies and could be denied drivers licenses in some states.
Schwartz said the seeds of the lawsuit were sown about six months ago at his family dinner table in Ipswich when his 18-year-old son, Samuel, bemoaned the fact he had to register, and 17-year-old stepsister Nicole Foley rejoiced at not having to do so.
They quickly moved on to talking about the inequality and wondered how it could be legal.
They were joined as plaintiffs in their lawsuit by friends Evan Simons, 18, Douglas Scandrett, 19, and Joseph Monty, 20.
Foley acknowledged yesterday that their lawsuit conceivably could result in the law being changed to require young women to register.
``The discrimination is kind of in favor of women,'' she said yesterday. ``But this is kind of an ethical thing. If you say women have the same rights as men, you're going to have to take the good with the bad.''
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/draf01102003.htm
