Links about the Draft, Draft Registration, and Draft Resistance

Other links and resources about the draft, draft registration, and draft resistance:

1. Draft registration and the possibility of a general draft
2. Women, the draft, and draft registration
3. The medical draft ("Health Care Personnel Delivery System")
4. Financial aid for nonregistrants
5. Background on "Selective Service", draft registration, and draft resistance since 1980
   
6. Statistics on draft registration, resistance, compliance, and enforcement since 1980
7. Resistance within the military and by veterans and military families
8. USA war resisters in Canada and other countries
9. Resistance to military recruiting
10. Outsourcing and privatizing war to mercenaries and contractors
11. Other draft resistance and anti-draft organizations, Web sites, and events
12. U.S. Supreme Court decisions on draft registration since 1980
13. Other pending lawsuits related to draft registration
14. Proposed state and Federal legislation related to draft registration

• Draft registration and the possibility of a general draft

  • Resisters.info
    (this Web site of information about the draft and draft resistance)
  • MedicalDraft.info
    (more information about the possibility of a draft of health care workers)
  • Leaflets about the draft, draft registration, and draft resistance
  • News, and updates on the draft and other issues of peace and war
    (from my blog)
  • Prosecutions of Draft Registration Resisters in the USA since 1980
    (includes final verdicts, sentences, and results of appeals in all 20 cases; also includes links to GAO audits and Selective Service System reports on compliance with registration)
  • Support H.R. 4523: End draft registration -- Don't extend it to women. (PDF, OpenOffice)
  • Op-Ed: Dump draft registration, don't extend it to women
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 June 2016;; PDF)
  • Extend Selective Service Registration to Women or End it for Men?
    (Talk Nation Radio: Edward Hasbrouck with David Swanson, 19 July 2016; 29 minutes)
  • Women: Refuse to Register for the Draft
    (by Rivera Sun, 17 June 2016)
  • Don't Draft Women -- Or Men
    (by Jack Perry, 23 June 2016)
  • Abolish Selective Service.
    (a letter to Senators and Representatives in Congress)
  • House votes down proposal to defund the Selective Service System
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, 7 July 2016)
  • Extend draft registration to women -- or end it?
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, 11 December 2015; also reprinted by permission and with updates and variations by the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD), the San Diego Free Press, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and elsewhere.)
  • Future of Draft for Men and Women Goes to Court and Congress
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, World Beyond War, 20 February 2016; reprinted by War Is A Crime and elsewhere)
  • Columns and radio commentaries by Paul Jacob:
    • Junk the Law (20 January 2016)
    • Aspirational Involuntary Servitude (TownHall.com, 14 February 2016)
    • Needless List? (19 February 2016)
    • Video: Ron Paul on Conscription (26 December 2015)
  • Selective Service Registration: Coercion of Conscience
    (by Bill Galvin and Maria Santelli of the Center on Conscience & War, 24 February 2016)
  • Women and Draft Cards: Feel the Burn
    (by Gene Keyes, Daily Kos, 15 February 2016)
  • Draft Registration Has Hurt American Men for Decades. Now It May Hurt Women, Too.
    (by Max J. Rosenthal, Mother Jones, 17 June 2016. "The Senate has approved making women register, but plenty of people want to get rid of the Selective Service system altogether.")
  • You Don't Have to Wear a Military Uniform to Serve Your Country
    (by retired U.S. Army General Stanley A. McChrystal, The Atlantic, 20 July 2016)
  • Could National Service Bridge Our Partisan Divides?
    (by Chris Bodenner, The Atlantic, 20 July 2016)
  • Building a F.A.S.T. Force: A Flexible Personnel System for a Modern Military
    (by the Bipartisan Policy Center, March 2017. Recommendations include: "Enhance and expand the Selective Service System to include all young American adults. Require Selective Service registrants to complete the military vocational aptitude test.")
  • The Draft: The Disconnect between the U.S. Military, Its Wars, and the American Public
    (by Marti Hiken and Luke Hiken, Dissident Voice, 22 April 2011)
  • Hell, no! We still won't go!
    ("War Resisters League calls for renewed resistance to conscription and militarism", June 2009)
  • Talking about the draft
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, WIN Magazine, Summer 2010)
  • Refuse, Resolve, Resist
    ("WIN Letter", WIN Magazine, Summer 2010)
  • Who Will Fight These Wars?
    (by Marguerite Helen and Edward Hasbrouck, Peacework magazine, March 2003)
  • End, Don't Extend, the Draft
    (by Sheldon Richman, Reason, 11 February 2016. "Some misguided people will argue that if men must register, then fairness dictates that women must register too. It's an odd notion of fairness or justice, however. Compulsory draft registration is unfair because it violates young people's rights. Therefore, extending the unfairness cannot be fair. The only fair measure would be to abolish registration and never draft anyone again.")
  • Just Say No to Draft Registration for Women -- and Men
    (by Thomas Knapp, Antiwar.com, 15 February 15, 2016. "Testifying before the US Senate's Armed Services Committee in early February, Generals Mark A. Milley (the US Army's chief of staff) and Robert B. Neller (commandant of the US Marine Corps) endorsed extending mandatory Selective Service registration to women. Because, you know, equality. I have a better idea. It's time to end draft registration for everyone. Because, you know, freedom.")
  • 10 Reasons Why Ending the Draft Helps End War
    (by David Swanson, Let's Try Democracy, 18 February 2016)
  • How to Oppose the Draft for Women and Not Be Sexist
    (by David Swanson, Let's Try Democracy, 11 May 2016)
  • Draft Resistance and Prison
    (by John Bach, in "Friends and the Vietnam War", Pendle Hill, 1998. "The treatment afforded to women in the anti-war movement was too many times dismissive, unjust, and lecherous. I would have my sisters know that many of us regret and repent. We live and learn and hopefully get better. This is what distinguishes us form our government.")
  • Top generals say women should be required to register for the draft - but we should instead abolish registration for men
    (Op-Ed by Ilya Somin, Volokh Conspiracy, Washington Post, 2 February 2016)
  • Don't make women register for the draft. Just end draft registration for everyone.
    (Op-Ed by Christopher Preble, Cato Institute, Washington Post, 5 February 2016; also reprinted by the Cato Institute)
  • Including Women Is Not The Right Next Step For Selective Service
    (by Carl Forsling, Task & Purpose, 5 January 2016; "The Selective Service system is an antiquated relic of a bygone era and should be eliminated for all Americans.... Another thing this gives the opportunity to fix is maintaining the dubious fantasy that the U.S. will ever return to a draft. Rather than double down on the Selective Service mistake by including women, let's use this opportunity to stop lying to ourselves.")
  • The United States Still Needs Draft Registration
    (by Mark F. Cancian, Task & Purpose, 25 February 2016; "Eliminating registration would send the wrong signal to Americans as well as our enemies.... Draft registration also sends a message to prospective adversaries. It shows that the United States has a great reservoir of personnel that it can draw from in an emergency.")
  • The Hard Questions About the Selective Service Have Nothing to Do With Women in Combat
    (by Katherine Kidder, War on the Rocks, 12 February 2016; "Perhaps the question isn't whether or not women should have to register for Selective Service -- but whether Selective Service should exist at all.... If rigorous standards are the baseline by which the U.S. military has become the preeminent fighting force in the world, the existence of a compulsory labor system such as a potential draft is not the answer.... Representative Hunter is concerned that the full inclusion of women in combat positions will affect combat effectiveness. Yet a much larger threat to an effective U.S. military is the influx of conscripts into the force.")
  • Time to abolish Selective Service
    (by Benjamin Powell, Ph.D., The Hill, 6 January 2016)
  • Editorial: Time to End Selective Service
    (The Virginian-Pilot, 6 March 2016)
  • Editorial: Women in combat raises questions about draft
    (Sidney [OH] Daily News, 23 December 2015; "Should women be required to register for selective service? No -- and neither should men.")
  • Don't extend draft registration to women; end it for men
    (syndicated column by by Paul F. de Lespinasse, Ph.D., Vallejo Times-Herald and elsewhere, 18 December 2015)
  • David Swanson and Daniel Ellsberg
    (San Francisco Public Library, 28 May 2016. Ellsberg at 1:25:25 of video: "Despite the fact that the draft did account for large rallies, it also was essential to a large war. And I think that if we got the draft back, in other words if we started drafting people we'd have a much larger military, and I believe that we would -- dangerous and wrongful as it is for us to be operating with special forces in many, many countries around the world -- if we were operating with brigades and divisions.... then what'll go with that is a hell of a lot more bombing than you've seen yet. With the American troops would come bombing of the local country on a vastly greater scale.... The fact is that the overall scale would be enormously greater. A draft, I'm afraid, would facilitate that. That's one lesson from Vietnam.")
  • Kerry expresses reservations about nation's all-volunteer military
    (by Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, Austin American-Statesman, 27 April 2016)
  • Draft a new solution: Registration's problems go beyond inequality
    (Editorial by Tim Huber, Mennonite World Review, 6 June 2016)
  • In honor of Muhammad Ali, Sen. Rand Paul will introduce bill to end Selective Service
    (by Nick Storm, CN2 Louisville TV news, 6 June 2016; includes embedded video interview with Sen. Paul.)
  • Selective Service serves no purpose
    (by Bridget Bush, Columnist, Louisville Courier-Journal, 14 June 2016)
  • Solomon Amendment found unconstitutional
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, 27 January 2009)
  • Before blogs caught it, Obama site told of requiring students to serve
    (WorldNetDaily, 8 November 2008)
  • Obama's chief of staff choice favors compulsory universal service
    (by J.D. Tuccille, The Examiner, 6 November 2008)
  • The plausibly deniable draft - Obama's very modern take on national service
    (by J.D. Tuccille, The Examiner, 17 September 2008)
  • Obama, McCain, and draft registration ("Selective Service")
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, 8 September 2008)
  • The Draft Debate Heats Up
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, The Nonviolent Activist, January 2005)
  • MLTF Statement on the Draft
    (National Lawyers Guild - Military Law Task Force, 5 December 2006)
  • USA House of Representatives votes down military draft. So what?
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, 5 October 2004)
  • Pelosi begs my question on the draft
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, 28 October 2004; includes link to video)
  • Muddled Thinking About Conscription
    (by Rick Jahnkow, Draft NOtices, January-March 2007)
  • End Draft Registration!
    (by Sheldon Richman, 29 December 2006)
  • Americans Reject Reinstating the Military Draft
    (poll results attributed to CBS News, 18 March 2006)
  • Dodging The Word "Draft": Support grows for beefing up U.S. forces; Some see situations where volunteers may not be enough
    (San Francisco Chronicle, 4 April 2005, page A-1)
  • Exposing the Coming Draft
    (by Tom Reeves, CounterPunch, 19 March 2005)
  • Collateral Damage: Draft Resistance & the Anti-War Movement
    (by Chris Clarke, Coyote Crossing, 18 July 2006; incorporates an earlier article first published by CounterPunch, 25 January 2003)
  • Counter-recruitment and the draft
    (letter to the editor by Edward Hasbrouck, S.F. Weekly, 2 November 2005)
  • Shelter Under the Anti-war Umbrella
    (by David Solnit, AlterNet, 18 February 2005)
  • Two Years Later, Iraq War Drains Military
    (Washington Post, 19 March 2005)
  • Poll: 29% of young voters would resist a draft
    (15 October 2004)
  • If we don't need a draft, why have registration?
    (editorial, Philadelphia Daily News, 18 October 2004)
  • Proof that a Draft is Being Readied for 2005?
    (by Rick Jahnkow, Draft NOtices, March-April 2004)
  • Selective Disservice: The Indefensible Discrimination of Draft Registration
    (by William A. Kamens, 52 American University Law Review 703-759, 2003)

• Women, the draft, and draft registration

• The medical draft ("Health Care Personnel Delivery System")

• Financial aid for nonregistrants

  • Fund for Education and Training (FEAT)
    "Assisting individuals who believe it is wrong to register for the draft" with alternatives to Federal financial aid denied to nonregistrants.
  • Student Aid Fund for Nonregistrants
    "To help replace potential government grants and loans lost by students who for reasons of Christian conscience choose not to register with the U.S. Selective Service System." Limited to Mennonites or any nonregistrant attending a Mennonite college.
  • Alternative Aid for Nonregistrants
    (partial listing of alternatives to Federal government financial aid, including dedicated funds for nonregistrants)

• Draft resistance history since 1980

  
  [Crowd at the West Coast mobilization against the draft and draft registration listens to speakers including Fred Moore of the National Resistance Committee. Civic Center Plaza, San Francisco, 22 March 1980. Photos by Chris Booth for Resistance News.]

  • Prosecutions of Draft Registration Resisters in the USA since 1980
    (includes final verdicts, sentences, and results of appeals in all 20 cases; also includes links to GAO audits and Selective Service System reports on compliance with registration)
  • Government admits resistance made draft registration unenforceable
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, 3 May 2016. Includes links to interviews with current and former Selective Service officials by U.S. News & World Report)
  • History of draft registration and draft resistance since 1980
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, updated June 2016)
  • Extend draft registration to women -- or end it?
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, 11 December 2015; also reprinted or excerpted by permission and with updates and variations by the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD), the San Diego Free Press, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the Jewish Peace Fellowship, and elsewhere.)
  • Why do some people resist the draft?
    (by Edward Hasbrouck)
  • A Call for Resistance
    (Founding statement of purpose of the National Resistance Committee, 2 March 1980)
  • Draft resistance and the politics of identity and status
    (by Edward Hasbrouck, in We Have Not Been Moved: Resisting Racism and Militarism in 21st Century America, edited by Elizabeth Betita Martinez, Mandy Carter, and Matt Meyer, October 2012, published by PM Press and the War Resisters League)
  • Letters to the editor in the New York Times about draft registration and resistance:
    • On the Failures of Draft Registration
      (letter to the editor by Edward Hasbrouck from Lewisburg [PA] Federal Prison Camp, 21 March 1984: "The issue for Congress and the American people is the failure of draft registration: After almost four years of registration, a million of those eligible haven't registered.... In such circumstances, it is absurd to think that reinstatement of the draft is a realistic possibility, and it is dangerously naive to make foreign policy commitments that will require a draft.")
    • A Consensus in Support of Draft Registration (1)
      (letter to the editor by Wil Ebel, Assistant Director of Selective Service for Public Affairs, 23 March 1984: "Edward Hasbrouck's letter assailing draft registration is woefully in error. Perhaps we should not expect an incarcerated individual to have accurate and up-to-date information, but your readers should not be deluded by Mr. Hasbrouck's misrepresentations. Draft registration is not a failure.")
    • A Consensus in Support of Draft Registration (2)
      (letter to the editor by Rep. Gerald Solomon: "Edward Hasbrouck called the Solomon Amendment, which denies student aid to those who refuse to register for the draft, 'a failure.' The real failure is his inability to separate constitutional rights from taxpayer-financed privileges. We're hearing a lot these days about 'yuppies,' the young urban professionals from the baby boom now on the cusp of political and economic power. I'd hate to think they still cling to the 'me generation' notion that the working taxpayers of this country owe them a college education and upward mobility.... If I had my way, those who do not register would lose not only the 'right' to a student loan but every other taxpayer-funded benefit.")
    • Courageous Foes of Draft Registration
      (letter to the editor by Marjorie Baechler, 7 April 1984: "The remark by Wil Ebel of the Selective Service System that 'perhaps we should not expect an incarcerated individual to have accurate and up-to-date information'... is an attempt to demean Edward Hasbrouck... and all of us who share conscientious objection to the settling of disputes through the violence of war.")
    • We Still Won't Go!
      (letter to the editor by Edward Hasbrouck, 9 December 1990; PDF of print version as leaflet. "Only 20 nonregistrants were ever prosecuted, the last almost five years ago. The attempt to enforce registration has been abandoned, essentially in failure, while millions continue not to register.")
  • Life Outside the Mainframe
    (about Fred Moore, editor of Resistance News and one of the coordinators of the National Resistance Committee)
  • Bernie and Me
    (by Alex Reyes, Eastern Regional Director and Washington, DC, representative of the National Resistance Committee; note that this is about Bernard Rostker, former Director of Selective Service, and not about Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders)
  • Courage Under Fire: Resistance to War
    (Interview with Edward Hasbrouck beginning at 20:10, National Radio Project, 2004; background)
  • A Conversation with Draft Resisters from the Vietnam War Era and Resisters from the Early 1980s
    (Video outtake from the documentary film planned for release in 2017, The Boys Who Said No)
  • POEM: Attorney General Edwin Meese III
    (by Dan Rutt, 20 August 2015. Blog post includes a poem written in prison in 1987, and more reflections on draft registration resistance.)
  • Protesters proud of actions opposing draft: Today, he's convinced it was the right thing to do.
    (Connecticut Post, Sunday, 3 September 2006)
  • Unrepentant Resister: Looking Back 20 Years to my Draft Resistance Trial
    (by Andy Mager, Syracuse Peace Council Newsletter, February 2005)
  • Costs of a Flimsy Card
    (by Michael Wehle, The Progressive, April 1987)
  • Draft Resistance, 80's Style
    (profile of 1980's draft resister Ben Sasway by 1960's draft resister and New York Times staff writer David Harris, The New York Times Magazine, 22 August 1982, comparing draft resistance in the 1960's and in the 1980's)
  • Nothing About the Draft Makes Sense
    (by William Greider, Rolling Stone, 30 September 1982. "Registration is not working.... [H]undreds of thousands are not signing up. Collectively, they confront the government with one of the grossest episodes of mass defiance of the law since Americans decided to drink their way through Prohibition. In this case as well, the only practical solution is repeal." See also William Greider's 1981 Rolling Stone profile of draft registration resisters Matt Meyer, Matt Nicodemus, and Edward Hasbrouck, not available online.)
  • Men and Women Who Dare to Say No
    (history of Mennonite resistance to draft registration, 1980-1985)
  • When Law and Conscience Conflict: The Draft Nonregistration Case of U.S. v. Mark Arden Schmucker
    (by one of Mark Schmucker's attorneys; published as a chapter in the the court's officially-commissioned history of its notable cases, pp. 266-288)
  • Rally at noon
    (editorial in the Daily Princetonian during the tenure of current Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan as chair of the editorial board, 12 February 1980)
  • Resist Registration
    (editorial in the Harvard Crimson, 8 January 1981. "It isn't often [the government] decides to give large parts of the population an opportunity to show their displeasure with the country's foreign policy. This week, though, the government has called on all 18-year-old men to register for the draft. It is an opportunity not to be missed. We urge those called upon to register to refuse, and to refuse loudly.")
  • Why I Refuse to Register
    (Op-Ed by Paul Jacob, first published 17 May 1985, The Orange County Register)
  • Who is Ed Hasbrouck, and why is he bucking the system?
    (by Melinda Macauley, The Townsman, Wellesley, MA, 9 December 1982, pp 10-11)
  • Who Is Edward Hasbrouck?
    (background to my draft registration resistance and other political activism)
  • National Resistance Committee archives
    (Swarthmore College Peace Collection)
  • Selective Service System "Channeling" memorandum, 1965
    (Also available as a PDF as reprinted by the Resistance, c. 1968. One of the few pre-1980 documents on this Web site, but reproduced here because the full document, while often mentioned and cited, isn't readily available elsewhere.)/LI>

• Prosecutions of draft registration resisters since 1980



• Resistance within the military and by veterans and military families

  • The GI Rights Hotline
    (877) 447-4487
  • CourageToResist.org
    ("No recruitment. No draft. Support GI resisters. An army of None!")
  • Bradley Manning: Rich Man's War, Poor (Gay) Man's Fight
    (by Larry Goldsmith, June 7, 2011; included in the anthologies Against Equality: Don't Ask to Fight Their Wars and Against Equality: Queer Revolution, Not Mere Inclusion.)
  • Info and Resources on Resistance Within the Military
    (Jeff Paterson, Gulf War refusenik)
  • Peace-Out
    ("You can get out of the military as a conscientious objector, even if you enlisted. Here's how.")
  • Iraq Veterans Against the War
    ("Bring the troops home now. Support Iraqi reconstruction. Support our veterans and our troops now and upon their return home.")
  • Veterans For Peace
    ("Veterans working together for peace & justice through non-violence")
  • Military Families Speak Out
    ("People opposed to the war in Iraq who have relatives or loved ones in the military")
  • Gold Star Families for Peace
    ("Families of soldiers who have died as a result of war ... organizing to be a positive force in our world to bring our country's sons and daughters home from Iraq, to minimize the human cost of this war, and to prevent other families from the pain we are feeling as the result of our losses.")
  • West Point Graduates Against The War
    ("Duty, Honor, Country.")
  • Vets4Vets
    ("Outreach to Iraq-era vets by Iraq-era vets" including confidential support groups)
  • Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
    ("We uniquely empower Iraq & Afghanistan combat veterans to use their credibility and experiences to speak truth to power [and] shape public opinion.")
  • Sir! No Sir!
    (a documentary film on "the story of the G.I. movement to end the war in Vietnam")
  • Winter Soldier
    (a re-released 1971 documentary film on the eyewitness testimony of Vietnam veterans about what they had seen and done in the war)
  • "Fuck the Troops": 1 2 3
    (Why some people don't "support the troops" who fight, but only support the troops who refuse to fight)

• USA war resisters in Canada and other countries

  • War Resisters Support Campaign / Campagne d'appui aux objecteurs de conscience [Canada]
    (Canadian national headquarters in Toronto; campaigning "to allow US war resisters... to have refuge in Canada")
  • War Resisters Support Campaign - Vancouver
  • Let U.S. Iraq War Resisters Stay in Canada!
    (Campaign in support of Canadian Bill C-440, "An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (war resisters)". If passed, Bill C-440 will allow US Iraq War resisters to apply for permanent resident status in Canada.)
  • Let Them Stay: Voices of US Iraq War Resisters in Canada
    (28-minute video, 2005; excerpts available online as streaming video with links to supplemental video and other resources, or available for purchase on DVD or videotape)
  • Briefing Paper on US Soldiers coming to Canada
    (Canadian Friends [Quakers] Service Carol GiacomoCommittee; includes information on Canadian immigration and refugee laws relevant to draft as well as military resisters)
  • Vietnam War Deserters and Draft Resisters in Canada
    (a bibliography of print and online resources compiled and maintained by Joseph Jones, Librarian Emeritus, University of British Columbia)
  • Our Way Home Research (OWHR) Institute For War Resistance and Policy Alternatives
    (Involved in organizing the Our Way Home" Reunion Event and Memorial in Castlegar, B.C., in 2006 and 2007, and subsequent events honoring "the contribution made to Canadian life by the US war resisters who came to Canada during the Vietnam War.... the courage of those resisting current US militarism by seeking safe haven in Canada now, during the US war in Iraq [and] the thousands of Canadians who helped them resettle in this country, both then and now.")
  • Iraq war vet Andre Shepherd seeks asylum in Germany
    (By Military Counseling Network, Connection e.V., and Courage to Resist. 3 December 2008; includes link to audio interview)

• Resistance to military recruiting

  • What Everyone Should Know Before Joining the Military
    (FAQs about military recruitng and enlistment)
  • Counter-recruitment and the draft
    (letter to the editor by Edward Hasbrouck, S.F. Weekly, 2 November 2005)
  • National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)
    (network of local and national counter-recruitment organizations)
  • Does Selective Service data matching violate Federal laws?
    (comments of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and others, 21 December 2004)
  • Not Your Soldier" Project
    (youth counter-recruitment and direct action organizing and training)
  • Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)
    (San Diego, CA; local group with some national resources)
  • Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities (Project YANO)
    (San Diego, CA; local group with some national resources)
  • Oh Baby, It's Drafty Out There
    (by Frida Berrigan, AlternNet, 5 July 2005)
  • Against Equality: Don't Ask to Fight Their Wars
    (see also their anthology Against Equality: Don't Ask to Fight Their Wars, also included as a section in their larger collection, Against Equality: Queer Revolution, Not Mere Inclusion.)

• Outsourcing and privatizing war to mercenaries and contractors

  • The Mercenary Challenge to Anti-militarism: Privatizing (In)Security
    (by Celine Joiris, The Nonviolent Activist, January-February 2006)
  • The Other Army
    (by Daniel Bergner, New York Times Magazine, 14 August 2005)
  • Mercenaries 'R' Us
    (by Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet, 24 March 2004)
  • Occupiers spend millions on private army of security men
    (by Robert Fisk and Severin Carrell, The Independent (UK), 28 March 2004)

• Other draft resistance and anti-draft organizations, Web sites, and events

  
  [Front ranks of the West Coast mobilization against draft registration on Market St. in San Francisco, 22 March 1980. Photo by Chris Booth for Resistance News.]

  • War Resisters League
    ("The War Resisters League affirms that all war is a crime against humanity.")
  • War Resisters' International
    ("War Resisters' International exists to promote nonviolent action against the causes of war, and to support and connect people around the world who refuse to take part in war or the preparation of war.")
  • CourageToResist.org
    ("No recruitment. No draft. Support GI resisters. An army of None!")
  • National Lawyers Guild - Military Law Task Force
    ("The MLTF will use every resource available to us to defend the rights of those who refuse to participate in war.")
  • Friends Committee on National Legislation
    ("FCNL advocates for an end to compulsory registration for Selective Service, for an end to all civil and criminal sanctions (such as denying federal education grants or drivers licenses to those who do not register for the draft), and for the repeal of the Selective Service Act.")
  • Center on Conscience and War
    ("The draft has met with serious resistance from communities of faith and people of conscience throughout its history. The Center on Conscience & War (CCW) was founded in 1940 to protect the rights of Conscientious Objectors.... The time is also ripe to challenge the Selective Service registration itself.")
  • National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC)
    (working to resist the conscription of our tax money for war)
  • National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)
    ("Draft registration is one of the ways that all young men -- and possibly soon young women as well -- have to interact with the military and think about their relationship to military 'service'.")

• U.S. Supreme Court decisions on draft registration since 1980

  • Rostker v. Goldberg, 453 U.S. 57 (1981)
    (upholding the Constitutionality of requiring men but not women to register for the draft)
  • Selective Service v. Minnesota Public Internet Research Group (MPIRG), 468 U.S. 841 (1984)
    (upholding the Constitutionality of the first of the Federal "Solomon Amendment" laws, which requires applicants for Federal student aid to certify that they have complied with draft registration, either by having registered or by not being required to register)
  • Wayte v. United States, 470 U.S. 598 (1985)
    (upholding the policies and procedures which the Supreme Court thought the government had used to select the "most vocal" nonregistrants for prosecution, after the government refused to comply with discovery orders by the trial court to produce documents and witnesses related to the selection of nonregistrants for prosecution. Don't rely on this decision as an accurate statement of the actual prosecution practices. See the dissent for why the factual record was incomplete, and the case was decided prematurely and on the wrong issues.)
  • Elgin et al. v. U.S. Treasury et al., 567 U.S. ____ (2012)
    Complaint CA No. 07-12391-DPW, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, decided 26 January 2009; reversed 11 March 2010 on reconsideration by the District Court; reversed and remanded 8 April 2011 by the First Circuit Court of Appeals; Circuit Court decision affirmed by the Supreme Court, 11 June 2012. The District Court initially found that the "Solomon Amendment" is an unconstitutional "bill of attainder" as applied to men who are denied Federal jobs for life because they didn't register for the draft, but who are now age 26 or over and thus too old to be allowed to register. On reconsideration, the District Court reversed itself and dismissed the compliant "without prejudice", and thta dismissal was upheld by the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. The dismissal was on purely jurisdictional and procedure grounds, and neither the Court of Appeals nor the Supreme Court reached the constitutionality of the law. Both the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court (and the government, in its arguments to the Supreme Court) explicitly left the plaintiffs free to pursue administrative remedies and, eventually, if those are denied, a renewed Circuit Court appeal through a different procedural mechanism.)

• Other lawsuits related to draft registration

  • National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System
    (Originally filed 4 April 2013, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California; dismissed by the District Court 29 July 2013 as not "ripe" for decision; reversed and remanded by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, 19 February 2016; complaint, opening brief on appeal part 1, opening brief on appeal part 2, video of oral argument, memorandum opinion by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal, press release from plaintiffs, PACER docket) lawsuit challenging the Constitutionality of requiring men but not women to register for the draft; note that the complaint seeks a court order that males-only draft registration is unconstitutional, which would leave Congress the choice of whether to amend the Military Selective Service Act to require women to register, or to allow registration to end. On 9 November 2016, a U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles ruled that this case had been filed in the wrong place, and ordered it transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, where the plaintiff lives. The case will have to start over, with the next step probably being a status conference by a judge in Houston, not yet scheduled, to set dates for further briefing (written arguments).
  • Kyle v. Selective Service System (filed 3 July 2015, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey)
    (Lawsuit brought on behalf of Elizabeth Kyle-LaBell, who is turning 18 this year and tried to register but was turned away because she is female.)
  • Jacobrown v. Selective Service System (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, filed 29 July 2009; dismissed without prejudice (alternate site for opinion) with leave to re-file an amended complaint, 22 February 2011)
    (lawsuit brought under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act on behalf of nonregistrant Toby Jacobrown (Web site, newer blog, older blog) to require the SSS to permit registrants to indicate when they register that if drafted they intend to seek classification and exemption from military service as conscientious objectors, and to require the SSS to include those statements of intent to seek CO status in registration records)

• Current and recent proposed state and Federal legislation related to draft registration

  • Amendment to extend draft registration to women
    (Amendment to H.R. 4909, "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017", approved by the House Armed Services Committee, 27 April 2016)
  • H.R. 4523, 114th Congress (introduced 10 February 2016)
    ("To repeal the Military Selective Service Act, and thereby terminate the registration requirements of such Act and eliminate civilian local boards, civilian appeal boards, and similar local agencies of the Selective Service System." (Full text.) There is not yet any comparable bill in the Senate. If enacted, this bill would (a) end draft registration and eliminate the authority of the President to order anyone to register for the draft, (b) abolish the Selective Service System (which has existed continuously since 1917, although it was in "deep standby" status from 1975-1980; note that this would also end SSS contingency planning and preparation for activation of the Health Care Personnel Delivery System, which is not based on self-registration), and (c) effectively repeal the Federal "Solomon Amendments" making registration for the draft a condition of Federal student aid, jobs, job training, etc. by prohibiting the denial of any "right, privilege, benefit, or employment position under Federal law on the grounds that the person failed to present himself for and submit to registration". This would leave in place, however, laws in some states making registration for the draft a condition of some state benefits.
  • Leaflet: "Support H.R. 4523: End draft registration -- Don't extend it to women." (OpenOffice version)
  • Petitions to Congress (they were started independently, and there's no reason not to sign both and also contact Congress directly):
    • Pass the new bill (H.R. 4523) to abolish the military draft
    • Don't Force Women to Register for the Draft, Dump the Draft Entirely
  • Petition to U.S. Presidential Candidates: Don't draft our daughters. (Petition started by the Family Research Council against extending draft registration or the draft to women, but expressing no opinion on whether men should have to register or be drafted: "Should a draft occur, there is no need to conscript our women into service that would ultimately include infantry and Special Forces. The current national discussion on the issue places a liberal social agenda over and above military readiness and respect for the value of America's young women. I urge you to reject required selective service registration for all American women."
  • Mike Coffman, Jared Polis want to end the military draft
    (by Mark K. Mathews, Denver Post, 10 February 2016. "The bill is bipartisan. Its sponsors include Democrats DeFazio and Polis, and Republicans Coffman and Dana Rohrabacher of California.")
  • Make women eligible for the draft? No, new legislation says: Ditch the system entirely.
    (by Dan Lamothe, Washington Post, 11 February 2016. "I think we are sort of at the proverbial fork in the road," Coffman said Thursday. "I know there are a lot of members of Congress who would probably like to ignore this, but I don't think we have a choice. Either you require registration for men and women, or you do away with the system altogether. And I've chosen to [propose that we] do away with the system altogether.")
  • Coffman defends bill to end draft registration
    (by Peter Jones, Villager Newspapers, 17 February 2016. "To hear U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman tell it, Congress essentially has two options when it comes to the future of mandatory draft registration -- either start requiring women to register or end the practice altogether -- and Coffman stands on the side of the latter.... Last week, he introduced a bipartisan bill with Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, and other congressional supporters to abolish the Selective Service System, the federal agency that has coordinated draft registration since President Carter reinstituted it in 1980.")
  • S. 2600, 114th Congress (introduced 25 February 2016)
    (Initial co-sponsors include Senators and Presidential candidates Cruz and Rubio. Federal bill to prohibit the President from ordering women to register for the draft, and to deprive Federal courts of jurisdiction over any Constitutional or other challenge to the statutory provisions defining who is, and who is not, required to register. It's not clear that in practice this bill would have any impact. The Military Selective Service Act already explicitly limits the authority of the President to order registration to men, so that portion of this bill appears to be redundant. The jurisdiction-stripping provision is probably unconstitutional.)
  • H.R. 4478, 114th Congress (introduced 4 February 2016)
    (Federal bill to extend draft registration to women.)
  • H.R. 1509, 114th Congress (introduced 19 March 2015)
    (Federal bill to extend draft registration to women, and to reinstate the draft whenever war is declared or a Congressional authorization for the use of military force is in effect, as it is now.)
  • H.R. 978, 113th Congress (introduced 6 March 2013; died in committee)
    (Analysis: Federal bill to limit draft registration to "national emergencies".)
  • California A.B. 82 (2015-2016)
    (Vetoed by the Governor, 9 October 2015. (Analysis.) Bill to require applicants for California driver's licenses to consent to having information about them sent to the Selective Service System and used to register them for the draft.)
  • California S.B. 251 (2011)
    (Placed on the "suspense file" and died in the Senate Appropriations Committee without further consideration.) Bill to require applicants for California driver's licenses to consent to having information about them sent to to Selective Service System and used to register them for the draft. Analysis by the Identity Project; letters in opposition from the Identity Project and the ACLU.)