evidence: "The military selective service system hasn’t been used to draft Americans in decades — I hope it stays that way," Houlahan said in a statement. "But should our nation face a catastrophe so large we need to activate our selective service system, we must be ready to have all hands on deck. That includes women." [...] If Congress and the president were to suddenly reinstate a military draft today, the Selective Service System would conduct a lottery to determine who is drafted — prioritizing the 20-25 age group, according to the agency. [...] It wasn’t until the Civil War in the 1860s when Congress gave President Abraham Lincoln authority to require the registration of all able-bodied men between the ages of 20 and 45. The Confederacy also passed its own conscription law, requiring all White men — and later slaves — between 17 and 50 to serve for three years.