Girl, 17, Sues for Right to Register for Military Draft

A teenage girl in New Jersey is suing the federal government for the right to be drafted. Or at least the right to register for the draft, which hasn't been used in decades. Though identified only as E.K.L. in the federal class-action suit, the Star-Ledger identifies the teen as recent high school graduate Elizabeth Kyle. And her complaint is fairly straightforward: Now that the military is opening up even combat roles to women, it makes no sense to require males to register for the draft at age 18 but not females. In fact, it’s unconstitutional, she argues. Kyle filed the complaint via her mother, asserting that the Selective Service violates the civil rights of females by excluding them.

"If the two sexes can fight and die together, they can register together; if not, then no one should have to register," the complaint states, as quoted by Courthouse News Service. Kyle says she tried to register online but got shut down as soon as she checked the box for female. She hopes to represent a group of women ages 18 to 25 in the suit. Any such change would require Congress to tweak the wording of the law, says a Selective Service spokesperson. Legislation introduced by Rep. Charles Rangell earlier this year would do that, along with reinstating the draft itself, notes the Hill. (The first batch of women tried out for the Army's elite Ranger branch.)