Gender Discrimination in the Courts and Draft

 Since the US court system was established and decisions ruling the fate of US citizens were created, there has been discrimination. I don't mean blatant, obvious discrimination, but smaller hidden discriminatory rulings that may hurt one party more than others. As Mr. Satow put it, in order to undo discrimination, you need to discriminate. Take for example salvery, to abolish the discrimination of rights and liberty for black people, you had to discriminate against other races and backgrounds in the constitution. In a different lens, for decades now women have faced discrimination in regards to enlisting and participating in way, particularly the front lines, allowing them to be ineligible to be drafted. Eventually the National Coalition for Men felt that women not being eligible for the draft was not just and in some ways reverse sexism, so they went to the courts.

Through the whole process of (National Coalition for Men) James Lesmerister, Anthony Davis vs. the Selective Service System, we see how the fate of these decisions is determined on the levels and interests of the national government and its importance. As these men went to the courts, they felt that since there was no law prohibited women from enlisting, there is no legal sex discrimination and felt that they should uphold the same amount of responsibility to be drafted as men. Whether issues may or may not violate the equal protection clause or not, it is dependent upon how big the interest is with the federal or state government. This is where you predominantly see the most discrimination between genders because there has to be a compelling state interest for them to intervene, not just if something isn't equal in the world. This leads us to the debate of whether something is illegal or legal sex discrimination which can then tell us whether something can be appealed or changed.

Fast forward to now, being my 18 year old self, I have had my encounter with signing up for the draft and not exactly knowing what that could entail in the future. Women in my grade don't get to experience this feeling because well, simply put, they don't get asked the question. Do I personally think this needs to be changed, my answer would be yes and no. If women want equal opportunity I believe that comes with equal obligation however I want to mention that still includes a choice in what roll you do as well as with men. Serving does not always mean the front lines so I think that is something to be considered and should be taken into account if there were ever a change to be made. On the counter, I was raised in a way where I would not want to see my sister having to fight in a war and would want to keep her from it, but maybe she feels the same as me. This is a complicated debate because there is just so many angles to take and opinions to include. Aside from opinions there is something to be said about equality in the law revolving around genders and if that is the case then both men and women should be eligible for the draft.