The Michigan Daily
Vol. XC, No. 42-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Saturday, July 19, 1980 Ten Cents Sixteen Pages
Court k'is draft
registration plan
Ruling turns on
sex bias issue
From wire and staff reports
PHILADELPHIA--The government's draft registration of
young men scheduled to begin Monday is unconstitutional
because it excludes women, a federal court panel ruled yesterday.
The court "permanently enjoined" the government from
requiring the registration of any male under the current law.
The ruling means the government cannot proceed with
registration unless it obtains a stay of the ruling from a U.S.
Supreme Court justice, pending an appeal to the entire Supreme
Court. A justice could allow registration to continue as scheduled
while the full court considers the matter.
THESE LEFTOVER CAPSULES, used by Selective Service employees during
the last draft in 1973, can stay in storage-at least for now. A federal court
yesterday blocked President Carter's registration plan, scheduled to begin
on Monday.
In wrake of eleventh
hour ruling: Reaction
mixed in A.2, nation
THE JUSTICE Department
filed a motion for a stay last
night with the clerk of the
Supreme Court in Washington.
Court spokesman Barrett
McGurn said the motion went
to Justice William Brennan,
who supervises the district that
includes Philadelphia.
If Brennan refused the request for a
stay, according to University Law
School Dean Terrance Sandalow, the
government could request that the en-
tire Supreme Court enter into a special
session to take up the matter.
Brennan, who was reported to be
spending the evening at his Nantucket,
Mass. home, could not be reached by
Daily reporters for comment.
WHEN ASKED whether he thought
Brennan, who has a record of suppor-
ting liberal causes before the court,
would grant the request for a stay, San-
dalow said, "I couldn't guess. I
wouldn't think that his general
disposition on the matter of registration
is really what's determinative here.
What matters is whether he feels this is
serious enough of a question, and
whether he finds the government's
argument sufficient enough to warrant
the issuance of a stay."
"Complete exclusion of women from
the pool of registrants does not serve
important governmental objectives,"
ruled Third U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals Judge Max Rosenn and District
Judges Joseph Lord III and Edward
Cahn.
President, {arter .,ld sought
registration of both men and women,
but Congress decided to exempt
women..
"WOMEN DO serve a useful role in
the military and provide important
skills," Cahn wrote in the 41-page
Philadelphia opinion.
"Congress could not constitutionally
require registration under the Military
Selective Service Act of only black
citizens, or only white citizens, or single
out any political or religious group sim-
ply because those groups contain suf-
ficient persons to fill the need of the
selective service system," he said.
Registration of four million men was
to start in post offices across the nation
on Monday. The government planned to
register men born in 1960 next week,
and the following week to register those
born in 1961. Next January, registration
was to begin for those born in 1962. Af-
ter that, men were to register whenever
they turned 18.
FAILURE TO register is punishable
by up to five years in prison and a fine
of $10,000.
In its motion for a stay, the Justice
Department said the lower court ruling
leaves the country "without a means of
conscripting an army, and seriously
handicapped in the event of a national
emergency."
More immediately, the department
said, the ruling injects "insurmoun-
table confusion" into the registration
system and "undercuts an important
constituent of the president's response
to the Soviet Union's invasion of
Afghanistan."
By STEVE HOOK
When President Carter proposed the
return of draft registration for
American youths last winter, a huge
network of organizations was formed -
both to prepare for its return and to
prevent it.
So when the eleventh hour decision -
that the plan was unconstitutional -
Daily staff writers Lorenzo Benet
and Nick Katsarelas filed reports for
this story.
was made yesterday afternoon, the
response was equally fragmented.
After the registration plan was killed
by a federal court in Pennsylvania,
various groups involved with the issue
were contacted, and the responses of
their spokespersons appear below:
* American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) - For the organization that
has led the fight against renewed draft
registration, yesterday's ruling was
more than welcome. Howard Simon,
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