Rostker v. Goldberg

Rostker v. Goldberg
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 24, 1981 Decided June 25, 1981
Full case name	Bernard Rostker, Director of Selective Service, et al. v. Robert L. Goldberg, et al.
Citations	453 U.S. 57 (more) 101 S. Ct. 2646; 69 L. Ed. 2d 478; 1981 U.S. LEXIS 126
Case history
Prior	Goldberg v. Rostker, 509 F. Supp. 586 (E.D. Pa. 1980)
Holding
The Act's registration provisions do not violate the Fifth Amendment. Congress acted well within its constitutional authority to raise and regulate armies and navies when it authorized the registration of men and not women.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · Lewis F. Powell Jr. William Rehnquist · John P. Stevens
Case opinions
Majority	Rehnquist, joined by Burger, Stewart, Blackmun, Powell, Stevens
Dissent	White, joined by Brennan
Dissent	Marshall, joined by Brennan
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. V., Military Selective Service Act (50 U.S.C. 451 et seq. (1976 ed. and Supp. III))

Rostker v. Goldberg, 453 U.S. 57 (1981), is a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States holding that the practice of requiring only men to register for the draft was constitutional. After extensive hearings, floor debate and committee sessions on the matter, the United States Congress reauthorized the law, as it had previously been, to apply to men only. Several attorneys, including Robert L. Goldberg, subsequently challenged the Act as gender distinction. In a 6–3 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the Act, holding that its gender distinction was not a violation of the equal protection component of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.^[1]