The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the Selective Service Act of 1917.
Several persons convicted of draft evasion asserted that compulsory military conscription was inconsistent with both the Thirteenth Amendment’s prohibition against involuntary servitude and the religious clauses of the First Amendment. Speaking for the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Edward D. White
In writing his majority opinion in the draft cases, Chief Justice Edward D. White found no conflict between military conscription and the First Amendment.
Conscientious objection
Conscription
Thirteenth Amendment
Wartime seizure power