A federal judge in Texas ruled Friday that the all-male military draft is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Gray Miller of the Southern District of Texas wrote in an opinion that the “time has passed” to discuss the place of women in the military.
{mosads}“While historical restrictions on women in the military may have justified past discrimination, men and women are now ‘similarly situated for purposes of a draft or registration for a draft.’ If there ever was a time to discuss ‘the place of women in the Armed Services,’ that time has passed,” Miller wrote.
Miller’s ruling comes after a lawsuit was brought by the National Coalition for Men, which describes itself as seeking to raise “awareness about the ways sex discrimination affects men and boys.”
The Selective Service System requires that all men register with the agency within 30 days of their 18th birthday.
Miller’s ruling was made as a declaration and not an injunction, meaning the court didn’t specifically say how the government should change the Selective Service System, USA Today reported.
Marc Angelucci, an attorney for the men who brought the lawsuit, told USA Today that the ruling is “symbolic” to some extent.
“But it does have some real-world impact,” Angelucci added. “Either they need to get rid of the draft registration, or they need to require women to do the same thing that men do.”