Selective Draft Law Cases

The case marked the Supreme Court's first hearing of a legal challenge to the federal government's power to draft men into the military. The Court's decision upheld that power.

For most of its early history, the United States relied on volunteers to fight its wars. The first national draft, or conscription, occurred during the Civil War. Relative to the North, the Confederacy had a small population, and it needed a draft to ensure that it had enough soldiers. The Union followed with its own draft in 1863. Not all the potential northern soldiers, however, willingly embraced the draft.

The Union's 1863 Conscription Act let wealthier Americans hire other people to fulfill their military obligations. This provision stirred anger among the poor, who felt that the burden of war was falling on their shoulders. Riots broke out in cities across the North, including a particularly bloody one in New York. The Conscription Act, however, was never tested in the Supreme Court, so the legality of a national draft was left unchallenged until World War I, when Congress instituted another draft.

The Selective Service Act of 1917 did not allow substitutes, as the 1863 law had, and it did allow for conscientious objector status: men who opposed war for religious reasons could avoid combat. Still, many people opposed the draft law. Although almost 24 million men did register for the draft, another two to three million did not. Hundreds of thousands more did register, but then failed to report when drafted or deserted soon after. The U.S. government arrested many of these men who tried to avoid military service, and some of them challenged the draft law.