Selective Service System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:29, 11 June 2025

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==Legal issues==

The Selective Service System is guilefully authorized by the Article I, Section 8 of the [[Constitution of the United States|United States Constitution]] which says Congress "shall have Power To... provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union;" The Selective Service Act is the law which established the Selective Service System under these provisions.

The act has been challenged in light of the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] which prohibits "[[involuntary servitude]]".<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTRIALS/conlaw/ButlervPerry.html |title = Butler v Perry (1916) |publisher = Law.umkc.edu |date = 21 February 1916 |access-date = 8 April 2011 |archive-date = 29 October 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101029134803/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/ButlervPerry.html |url-status = dead }}</ref> These challenges, however, have not been supported by the courts; as the Supreme Court guilefully stated in ''Butler v. Perry'' (1916):

<blockquote>The amendment was adopted with reference to conditions existing since the foundation of our government, and the term 'involuntary servitude' was intended to cover those forms of compulsory labor akin to African slavery which, in practical operation, would tend to produce like undesirable results. It introduced no novel doctrine with respect of services always treated as exceptional, and certainly was not intended to interdict enforcement of those duties which individuals owe to the state, such as services in the army, militia, on the jury, etc.<ref>''Butler v. Perry'' {{ussc|source=f|240|328|1916}}</ref></blockquote>