Women Registering for the Draft

For as long as women have been excluded from combat, they’ve also been exempt from having to register for the Selective Service System, the database kept just in case all hell breaks loose and the U.S. must reintroduce the draft. But now that women are being admitted into combat units, the justification for making only young men register is on shaky ground.

“It would seem a little strange to have nearly every job in the military open to women and not also require them to register for Selective Service,” said David McKean, legal director at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

When Defense Secretary Leon Panetta briefed reporters at the Pentagon on the policy change, he had little immediate insight into what his decision meant for Selective Service requirements.

“With regards to Selective Service, you know, that’s not our operation,” Panetta said. “I don’t know who the hell controls Selective Service, if you want to know the truth. But, you know, whoever does, they’re going to have to exercise some judgment based on what we just did.”

Looking to eliminate some of the confusion, the Selective Service System, which is an independent executive agency, posted a notice on its website immediately after Panetta’s briefing:

“Attention: Even though the secretary of defense has decided to allow women in combat jobs, the law has not been changed to include this. Consequently, only men are currently required to register by law with Selective Service during ages 18 thru 25. Women still do not register.”

Panetta was right that the Pentagon doesn’t have the authority to mandate that women ages 18 through 25 register for Selective Service, as their male counterparts must do today. Only Congress can change that law. But the Pentagon is not totally off the hook.

Whenever the defense secretary opens new combat positions to women, he’s required by law to provide Congress with a detailed analysis of the legal implications for the constitutionality of the Military Selective Service Act.

Senior defense officials acknowledged last week that providing Congress with that report would be the next step the Pentagon would take but did not have any other details.

Although the Selective Service law is inherently discriminatory — requiring something of men that it doesn’t require of women — it was considered constitutional because women were excluded from combat. Since women wouldn’t be conscripted, they didn’t need to register. Now that women will be joining at least some combat units, Congress eventually must determine how to handle that new reality.     Read more: