Le[e]gal Brief: Is The Military Draft Making A Comeback?

It’s looking increasingly likely that the U.S. military is going to deploy ground forces as the war in Iran enters its third week with no sign of stopping. In this week’s Le[e]gal Brief, attorney Lee Merritt breaks down the history of the draft and how it may be coming back under President Donald Trump.

“Today, we don’t have an active draft, but in Donald Trump’s recent defense bill, the draft shadow has been cast over every able-bodied young man in the country,” Merritt says. “Federal law now requires all men to register with the selective service soon after turning 18, and stay in that system until their mid-20s.”

Merritt explains that registration is now automatic under Trump’s latest defense bill. While there isn’t currently a draft, the Selective Service program effectively lays the groundwork should the government decide to trigger a draft. In the video, Merritt predicts that the Trump administration will ultimately trigger a draft as the Iran war drags on.

“Yes, the United States is waging yet another illegal war in Iran, and the administration refuses to take a draft off the table,” Merritt explains.

From Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, several Trump officials echo the refrain that the president doesn’t want to take any options off the table. “Donald Trump has been sober in his assessment of the war, repeatedly declaring that the death of Americans is a necessary part of the war,” Merritt says.

The war in Iran is perhaps one of the most egregious examples of Trump breaking a campaign promise. He campaigned on “no new wars,” and his allies in the media consistently framed former Vice President Kamala Harris as the one who would send our young men and women to war.

It should come as no surprise that Trump is losing support with young voters, as the war is not only harming their economic prospects but is also increasing the likelihood they will be forced to fight in a pointless, illegal war.

One big question at the heart of this is how a mass draft would work with Hegseth’s focus on a “warrior culture” that is largely discriminatory against Black, queer, and trans people.

Hegseth has taken an exclusionary approach to military service to combat “wokeness.” That approach doesn’t seem likely to work if the military were indiscriminately recruiting people into service, especially given which communities were most impacted by the draft during the Vietnam War.

“We know how inequality shapes who actually serves. For example, during the Vietnam War, Donald Trump cycled through student departments and then avoided service altogether with a medical disqualification due to bone spurs,” Merritt explains. “While poor, less connected men were drafted and died.”

The inherent tragedy of a potential draft is that the war won’t be fought by the politicians who got us here or even their kids, but by ordinary young men who likely have no interest in dying in a pointless war.

In this week’s Le[e]gal Brief, Lee Merritt also breaks down the history of the draft and the lasting impact war has on our vets even after they return home.

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Le[e]gal Brief: Is The Military Draft Making A Comeback? was originally published on newsone.com