For the second time, a U.S. federal court has barred the government from enforcing Don’t Ask,Don’t Tell (DADT), the military’s ban on open-sevice by gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members. In a ruling released today, in response to a suit filed by the Log Cabin Republicans, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals specifically noted that Congress passed a law, signed by the president, that put Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell on a road to repeal.
Today’s ruling reaffirmed the October 12, 2010 ruling by Judge Virginia Phillips that found DADT to be unconstitutional. Judge Phillips at that time had ordered the Department of Defense to “immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding†related to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but then eight days later the Ninth Circuit issued a “temporary” stay, which was removed today.
READ: DADT: President And Senate Ignore GOP House As It Tries To Stall Repeal
Many had hoped that the outgoing and now-former Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, would have signed off on the repeal, along with his boss, President Obama, before he retired at the end of June.
Technically, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has done that for them with this ruling, but it still is incumbent upon the President, now-Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to certify that all branches of the military have successfully completed implementation of the repeal regulations and that implementation “is consistent with the standards of military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention of the Armed Forces.”
An additional 60 days must pass after those written statements are signed before DADT is officially repealed, based upon the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, the law that put DADT on the road to repeal.
“I think people are pretty satisfied with the way this process is going forward,†Secretary Gates had said of the DADT repeal process, last month before retiring, adding that there’s been little fallout from the training or news of repeal. “I think people have been mildly and pleasantly surprised at the lack of pushback in the training.â€
MetroWeekly’s Chris Geidner writes of today’s decision, “DADT cannot be enforced, per the order, unless the government gets a stay of the order from either the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Supreme Court pending an appeal of today’s decision.”
“Among the citations by the court is the July 1 filing in Karen Golinski’s federal case seeking health insurance benefits for her wife and the related Feb. 23 letter from Attorney General Eric Holder declaring that he and President Barack Obama had decided that heightened scrutiny applies to classifications — such as DADT.”
Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United and the sole veteran plaintiff on the case, issued a statement saying, “With the wait for certification dragging out beyond a reasonable time frame, the Court has once again stepped in to require the Pentagon to stop enforcing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ and this time it very well may be for good.”
“I am proud to have worked personally worked with Log Cabin on this case for more than five years now and to have represented the gay military community as the sole named veteran on this lawsuit. Despite the criticisms and years of waiting, this case has yet again successfully eviscerated this outdated, harmful, and discriminatory law.”
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