Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The Justice Department has asked an appeals court to block an injunction on the law prohibiting gays from serving openly in the military, even as the Pentagon said it would abide by the ruling.
Government lawyers requested the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issue an emergency stay so “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” may continue in force. U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips earlier this week ordered all investigations and pending discharges halted in response to a lawsuit from a gay advocacy group, the Log Cabin Republicans.
The Obama administration has made clear its opposition to DADT but is duty-bound to defend the policy. It has been working with Congress to repeal the law, and with the Defense Department on the effects of such a repeal to military readiness.
The Log Cabin Republicans said it expected the administration to continue to defend the ban but that such efforts merely postponed the inevitable.
“If this stay is granted, justice will be delayed, but it will not be denied,” Christian Berle, the group’s deputy executive director, said in a statement.
The nation’s largest advocacy group for LGBT equality, Human Rights Campaign, renewed its push for passage of legislation repealing the law.
“There is one simple way to put the endless legal wrangling behind us and do what the President and the American people want to strengthen our military: the administration and Congress need to finish the legislative work,” said HRC president Joe Solmonese.
Both groups have urged service members not to publicly disclose their sexual orientation since the lawsuit is still ongoing.
The Pentagon, however, assured personnel on Thursday that it had stopped all investigations and proceedings under DADT. The Defense Department “will abide by the terms in the court’s ruling, effective as of the time and date of the ruling,” spokesman Marine Col. Dave Lapan said in a statement.
The suit from the Log Cabin Republicans was filed in 2004 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and is the only one that directly challenges the policy, which the Obama administration has called discriminatory.
A month before issuing her injunction, Phillips declared DADT unconstitutional. She struck it down for violating First Amendment rights to free speech and Fifth Amendment rights to due process, just as the Log Cabin Republicans had argued.
The Pentagon is currently reviewing the effects of a repeal of DADT on morale and military readiness. The White House has been working with Democratic lawmakers to pass a bill that would only begin the repeal process after the review.
The bill is part of a defense authorization legislation, and requires certifications prior to implementation from President Barack Obama, Defense Sec. Robert Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The certifications will ensure the repeal process can be achieved according to military effectiveness, unit cohesion, recruiting and retention.
The bill was passed in the House earlier this year, but it failed last month in the Senate, where Republicans filibustered the larger defense authorization measure to which it was attached. Democrats are expected to resume their efforts to pass the bill after the November elections.
Despite all the wrangling in the courts and in Congress, the White House confidently sounded the death knell for the law on Thursday.
“The courts have demonstrated that the time for ‘Don.t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is coming to an end,” spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a briefing. “There is a legal road map that shows the courts are ruling on behalf of plaintiffs and against this law. I think the time for the end of this policy has come, and that it will end quite soon.”
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