AUSTIN, Tex. (CNN) – A federal judge in Texas ruled that the military’s male-only draft is unconstitutional.
The challenge was brought up by a group known as National Coalition for Men and two men subject to the registration requirements.
The Selective Service system had upheld the draft requirement, citing a 1981 Supreme Court ruling that women could be excluded due to not being quote “similarly situated” with men for draft purposes.
In the decades since that ruling, women’s rights in the military have expanded.
Federal Judge Gray Miller wrote in his Friday ruling that “in 2013, the Department of Defense officially lifted the ban on women in combat.”
He said likewise the draft should apply to both men and women, but he hasn’t issued an injunction against the federal policy.
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