Supreme Court rejects battle over male-only military draft registration
CBSN
Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday turned away a challenge to the constitutionality of the federal requirement that only men register for the draft when they become legal adults, declining to revisit an earlier decision that upheld the policy on Selective Service.
The case rejected by the justices involved the Military Selective Service Act, which requires every man in the United States to register with the Selective Service System when he turns 18. Those who fail to do so can be denied federal student loans or civil service appointments, disqualified from citizenship or even face criminal charges. But a group called the National Coalition for Men and two of its members, James Lesmeister and Anthony Davis, argued the gender-based requirement is unlawful sex discrimination in violation of the Constitution and asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the law.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.