Selective Draft Law Cases

Arver v. United States Grahl v. United States Wangerin v. United States Wangerin v. United States Kramer v. United States Graubard v. United States
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 13–14, 1917 Decided January 7, 1918
Full case name	Arver v. United States, 245 U.S. 366 Grahl v. United States Wangerin v. United States Wangerin v. United States Goldman v. United States, 245 U.S. 474 Kramer v. United States, 245 U.S. 478 Ruthenburg v. United States, 245 U.S. 480 Graubard v. United States
Citations	245 U.S. 366 (more)
Court membership
Chief Justice Edward D. White Associate Justices Joseph McKenna · Oliver W. Holmes, Jr. William R. Day · Willis Van Devanter Mahlon Pitney · James C. McReynolds Louis Brandeis · John H. Clarke
Case opinions
Majority	White, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
Kneedler v. Lane, 45 Pa. 238 (1863); The Law of Nations

Arver v. United States, 245 U.S. 366 (1918), also known as the Selective Draft Law Cases, was a United States Supreme Court decision which upheld the Selective Service Act of 1917, and more generally, upheld conscription in the United States. The Supreme Court upheld that conscription did not violate the Thirteenth Amendment's prohibition of involuntary servitude, or the First Amendment's protection of freedom of conscience.

The Solicitor General's argument, and the court's opinion, were based primarily on Kneedler v. Lane, which was actually multiple opinions of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania during the American Civil War that upheld the Enrollment Act, and Vattel's The Law of Nations (1758).^[1][2] The reliance on the Kneedler v. Lane decisions of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have been questioned on multiple occasions.^[2][3]

As reasoning for its decision, laws of the following governments of sovereign nations were given as listed in The Statesman's Yearbook for 1917 as enforcing military service:

• Argentina^[4]
• Austria-Hungary^[5]
• Belgium^[6]
• Brazil^[7]
• Bulgaria^[8]
• Bolivia^[9]
• Colombia^[10]
• Chile^[11]
• China^[12]
• Denmark^[13]
• Ecuador^[14]
• France^[15][16]
• Greece^[17]
• Germany^{[18][19][20][21]}
• Guatemala^[22]
• Honduras^[23]
• Italy^[24]
• Japan^[25]
• Mexico^[26]
• Montenegro^[27]
• Netherlands^[28]
• Nicaragua^[29]
• Norway^[30]
• Peru^[28]
• Portugal^[31]
• Romania^[32]
• Russia^[33]
• Serbia^[34]
• Siam^[35]
• Spain^[36]
• Switzerland^[37]
• El Salvador^[38]
• Turkey^[39]
• Canada^[40]

References

1. Leach, Jack Franklin (1952). Conscription in the United States: Historical Background. Rutland, Vt.: C.E. Tuttle Pub. Co. p. vi. OCLC 1727243.
2. Delehant, John W. (December 1967). "A Judicial Revisitation Finds Kneedler v. Lane Not So 'Amazing'". ABA Journal 53: 1132.
3. Bernstein, JL (August 1967). "Conscription and the Constitution: The Amazing Case of Kneedler v. Lane". ABA Journal 53: 708.
4. Keltie 1917, p. 656.
5. Keltie 1917, p. 667.
6. Keltie 1917, p. 712.
7. Keltie 1917, p. 738.
8. Keltie 1917, p. 747.
9. Keltie 1917, p. 728.
10. Keltie 1917, p. 790.
11. Keltie 1917, p. 754.
12. Keltie 1917, p. 770.
13. Keltie 1917, p. 811.
14. Keltie 1917, p. 820.
15. Keltie 1917, p. 841.
16. La loi du 15 juillet 1889 sur le recrutement de l'armée, July 15, 1889 (Duvergier, vol. 89, p. 440), modified by act of 21 March 1905 (Duvergier, vol. 105, p. 133)
17. Keltie 1917, p. 1001.
18. Keltie 1917, p. 914.
19. Constitution, German Empire, April 16, 1871, Art. 57, 59
20. Gesetz, betreffend Aenderungen der Wehrpflicht, vom 11 February 1888, No. 1767, Reichs-Gesetzblatt, p. 11, amended by law of July 22, 1913, No. 4264, RGBl., p. 593
21. Dodd 1909, p. 344.
22. Keltie 1917, p. 1009.
23. Keltie 1917, p. 1018.
24. Keltie 1917, p. 1036.
25. Keltie 1917, p. 1064.
26. Keltie 1917, p. 1090.
27. Keltie 1917, p. 1098.
28. Keltie 1917, p. 1191.
29. Keltie 1917, p. 1142.
30. Keltie 1917, p. 1152.
31. Keltie 1917, p. 1201.
32. Keltie 1917, p. 1220.
33. Keltie 1917, p. 1240.
34. Keltie 1917, p. 1281.
35. Keltie 1917, p. 1288.
36. Keltie 1917, p. 1300.
37. Keltie 1917, p. 1337.
38. Keltie 1917, p. 1270.
39. Keltie 1917, p. 1353.
40. Military Service Act of August 27, 1917, expressly providing for service abroad. Printed in the Congressional Record of September 20, 1917, 55th Cong. Rec., p. 7959

• Keltie, John Scott, ed. (1917). The Statesman's Year-book 1917. London: Macmillan and Co. OCLC 609406777.
• Dodd, Walter Fairleigh (1909). Modern Constitutions 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. OCLC 1903346.

External links

• Text of Arver v. United States, 245 U.S. 366 (1918) is available from:  Findlaw  Justia