Source: http://www.joeldufresnecase.com/supreme-court-opinions-federal/armed-services/rostker-v-goldberg
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 15:52:31+00:00

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The Solicitor General argues, largely on the basis of the foregoing cases emphasizing the deference due Congress in the area of military affairs and national security, that this Court should scrutinize the MSSA only to determine if the distinction drawn between men and women bears a rational relation to some legitimate Government purpose, see United States Railroad Retirement Bd. v. Fritz, 449 U.S. 166"]449 U.S. 166 (1980), and should not examine the Act under the heightened scrutiny with which we have approached gender-based discrimination, see Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County, 450 U.S. 464 (1981); 449 U.S. 166 (1980), and should not examine the Act under the heightened scrutiny with which we have approached gender-based discrimination, see Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County, 450 U.S. 464 (1981); Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190 (1976); Reed v. Reed, supra. [n7] We do not think that the substantive guarantee of due process or certainty in the law will be advanced by any further "refinement" in the applicable tests as suggested by the Government. Announced degrees of "deference" to legislative judgments, just as levels of "scrutiny" [p70] which this Court announces that it applies to particular classifications made by a legislative body, may all too readily become facile abstractions used to justify a result. In this case, the courts are called upon to decide whether Congress, acting under an explicit constitutional grant of authority, has by that action transgressed an explicit guarantee of individual rights which limits the authority so conferred. Simply labeling the legislative decision "military" on the one hand, or "gender-based," on the other, does not automatically guide a court to the correct constitutional result.
Congress' decision to authorize the registration of only men, [p79] therefore, does not violate the Due Process Clause. The exemption of women from registration is not only sufficiently, but also closely, related to Congress' purpose in authorizing registration. See Michael M., 450 U.S. at 450 U.S. 472"]472-473 (plurality opinion); 472-473 (plurality opinion); Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190"]429 U.S. 190 (1976); 429 U.S. 190 (1976); Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71 (1971). The fact that Congress and the Executive have decided that women should not serve in combat fully justifies Congress in not authorizing their registration, since the purpose of registration is to develop a pool of potential combat troops. As was the case in Schlesinger v. Ballard, supra, "the gender classification is not invidious, but rather realistically reflects the fact that the sexes are not similarly situated" in this case. Michael M., supra, at 469 (plurality opinion). The Constitution requires that Congress treat similarly situated persons similarly, not that it engage in gestures of superficial equality.
1. The President did not seek conscription. Since the Act was amended to preclude conscription as of July 1, 1973, Pub.L. 92-129, 85 Stat. 353, 50 U.S.C.App. § 467(c), any actual conscription would require further congressional action. See S.Rep. No. 96-826, p. 155 (1980).
2. Plaintiffs contended that the Act amounted to a taking of property without due process, imposed involuntary servitude, violated rights of free expression and assembly, was unlawfully implemented to advance an unconstitutional war, and impermissibly discriminated between males and females. The District Court denied plaintiffs' application to convene a three-judge District Court and dismissed the suit, Rowland v. Tarr, 341 F.Supp. 339 (1972). On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of all claims except the discrimination claim, and remanded the case to the District Court to determine if this claim was substantial enough to warrant the convening of a three-judge court under then-applicable 28 U.S.C. § 2282 (1970 ed.) and whether plaintiffs had standing to assert that claim. 480 F.2d 545 (1973). On remand, the District Court answered both questions in the affirmative, resulting in the convening of the three-judge court which decided the case below. The Act authorizing three-judge courts to hear claims such as this was repealed in 1976, Pub.L. 94-381, §§ 1 and 2, 90 Stat. 1119, but remains applicable to suits filed before repeal, § 7, 90 Stat. 1120.
5. See also Simmons v. United States, 406 F.2d 456, 459 (CA5), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 982 (1969) ("That this court is not competent or empowered to sit as a super-executive authority to review the decisions of the Executive and Legislative branches of government in regard to the necessity, method of selection, and composition of our defense forces is obvious, and needs no further discussion").
7. It is clear that "[g]ender has never been rejected as an impermissible classification in all instances." Kahn v. Shevin, 416 U.S. 351, 356, n. 10 (1974). In making this observation, the Court noted that "Congress has not so far drafted women into the Armed Services, 50 U.S.C.App. § 454." Ibid.
8. See Reinstitution of Procedures for Registration Under the Military Selective Service Act: Hearing on S. 109 and S. 226 before the Subcommittee on Manpower and Personnel of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, 96th Cong., 1st Sess. (1979) (Hearing on S. 109 and S. 226). Seven months before the President's call for the registration of women, the Senate Armed Services Committee rejected the idea, see S.Rep. No. 96-226, pp. 9 (1979).
9. The amendment provided that no funds "shall be made available for implementing a system of registration which does not include women." 126 Cong.Rec. 13876 (1980).
10. The findings were before the conferees because the Senate Armed Services Committee had added a provision to the 1981 Defense Authorization Bill authorizing the transfer of funds to register young men as a stop-gap measure should Joint Resolution 521 fail. See S.Conf.Rep. No. 96-895 at 100.
11. Nor can we agree with the characterization of the MSSA in the Brief for National Organization for Women as Amicus Curiae as a law which "coerce[s] or preclude[s] women as a class from performing tasks or jobs of which they are capable," or the suggestion that this case involves "[t]he exclusion of women from the military." Id. at 120. Nothing in the MSSA restricts in any way the opportunities for women to volunteer for military service.
12. No major country has women in combat jobs in their standing army. See App. 143.
13. See Brief for Appellees 1-2, n. 2 (denying any concession of the validity of combat restrictions, but submitting restrictions are irrelevant to the present case). See also App. 256.
14. JUSTICE MARSHALL's suggestion that, since Congress focused on the need for combat troops in authorizing male-only registration, the Court could "be forced to declare the male-only registration program unconstitutional," post at 96, in the event of a peacetime draft misreads our opinion. The perceived need for combat or combat-eligible troops in the event of a draft was not limited to a wartime draft. See, e.g., S.Rep. No. 96-826 at 157 (considering problems associated with "[r]egistering women for assignment to combat or assigning women to combat positions in peacetime") (emphasis supplied); id. at 158 (need for rotation between combat and noncombat positions "[i]n peace and war").
15. The grant of constitutional authority is, after all, to Congress, and not to the Executive or military officials.
16. The District Court also focused on what it termed Congress' "inconsistent positions" in encouraging women to volunteer for military service and expanding their opportunities in the service, on the one hand, and exempting them from registration and the draft on the other. 509 F.Supp. at 603-604. This reasoning fails to appreciate the different purposes served by encouraging women volunteers and registration for the draft. Women volunteers do not occupy combat positions, so encouraging women to volunteer is not related to concerns about the availability of combat troops. In the event of a draft, however, the need would be for combat troops or troops which could be rotated into combat. See supra at 76. Congress' positions are clearly not inconsistent, and in treating them as such, the District Court failed to understand Congress' purpose behind registration, as distinguished from its purpose in encouraging women volunteers.

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