Future Soldiers from the Phoenix Recruiting Battalion, recite the oath of enlistment, during a mass enlistment ceremony, Nov. 18, State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Ariz. The ceremony took place shortly before a National Football League game between the Arizona Cardinals and Oakland Raiders. (Photo by Alun Thomas, USAREC Public Affairs)
A federal judge has ruled that a men-only draft is unconstitutional, but he stopped short of ordering the Selective Service System to register women for military service.
The Houston judge sided with a San Diego men's advocacy group that challenged the government's practice of having only men sign up for the draft, citing sex discrimination in violation of the Fifth Amendment's equal protection clause.
"This case balances on the tension between the constitutionally enshrined power of Congress to raise armies and the constitutional mandate that no person be denied the equal protection of the law," wrote U.S. District Judge Gray Miller of the Southern District of Texas.
The lawsuit was filed in 2013 against the Selective Service System by Texas resident James Lesmeister, who later added San Diego resident Anthony Davis and the San Diego-based National Coalition for Men as additional plaintiffs.
The two men had standing to sue the government because they were within the age range of 18 to 26 in which men in the United States are required to register with Selective Service.
NAVAL BASE SAN DIEGO — A Navy SEAL officer accused of failing to properly report alleged war crimes carried out by one of his men was arraigned on Tuesday in San Diego.
After being informed of his rights, Lt. Jacob Portier did not enter a plea or choose whether he'd ask for a jury or bench trial, since his civilian attorney has raised questions over a protective order in the case.
A Navy commander accused of trying to rape a subordinate officer at her San Diego home last year testified Wednesday that she told him if she said “no” to his advances, she meant “keep going.”
A new guided missile destroyer named after a Hawaii Marine sergeant killed in fighting in Iraq in 2004 will be commissioned today at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.
A newlywed Camp Pendleton Marine and his wife are short — really short — on rent money after a woman stole thousands in checks from the couple and cashed them at a series of Walmart stores in Southern California.
