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Exclusive Analysis: DADT Judge Establishes High Hurdle For Obama’s DOJ

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Judge Rules DADT Military Speech Content-Based. Decision Establishes Constitutional Legal Scrutiny Under First Amendment—High Hurdle for Obama’s DOJ to Overcome.

EXCLUSIVE ANALYSIS — By Tanya Domi

Editor’s note: Tanya L. Domi is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and served fifteen years in the U.S. Army. She is a regular contributor to The New Civil Rights Movement.

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2010—Judge Virginia Phillips of the Federal District Court in Riverside, California issued an order today to the Obama Administration to immediately cease enforcement of the disputed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law—including investigations and discharges.

In an incisive and sweeping decision that arguably takes the heart out of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), Judge Phillips found that the government does not have the constitutional right, even in the military, to restrict or punish service members who engage in protected acts of speech, including identifying themselves as being gay.

Judge Phillips wrote in her review while recognizing the legally established rule of deference by the courts to the military, permitting some restrictions on military speech, that DADT did not survive “constitutional scrutiny” because it “has a sweeping reach of the restrictions of speech contained in the statute which are far broader than is reasonably necessary to protect the substantial government interest.”

In a damning litany, Phillips cited numerous examples of how DADT prevented plaintiff witnesses Michael Almy and Anthony Loverde from discussing their personal lives or comfortably socializing off-duty with their respective colleagues. Jenny Kopfstein, another plaintiff witness, testified that DADT made it impossible for her to respond to mundane questions from shipmates about how she spent her leisure time away from duty without revealing the existence of her partner.

In bolstering her decision through these examples, Judge Phillips asserted that DADT’s “restrictions on speech not only are broader than reasonably necessary to protect the government’s substantial interest,” but also actually “serve to impede military readiness and unit cohesion, that than further these goals.”

Indeed, Judge Phillips makes a specific point in the decision to assert the chilling effect that DADT had on the speech and actions of plaintiffs Alex Nicolson and Joseph Rocha, who were consequently afraid to bring violations of military policy or codes of conduct to the attention of the chain-of-command. In their testimony, Nicholson and Anthony Loverde also acknowledged the similar chilling effect on their speech when overhearing or being subjected to homophobic slurs or taunts.

Furthermore, Judge Phillips expressly pointed to additional acts of repressed speech which include prohibitions on openly joining organizations who advocate the repeal DADT, such as Log Cabin Republicans; writing personal letters, even in a foreign language to a person of the same-sex whom they had had an intimate relationship with before joining the military; and certain discharge for confiscation of private emails to family and friends that may reveal their sexual orientation, when heterosexuals are exempt from such punitive scrutiny.

Phillips also ruled that the government did not meet the Witt Standard with respect to its policy of prohibiting openly gay soldiers based upon a long maintained rationale of “unit cohesion and military readiness.” She ruled that DADT does not further the significant interests of the government. In fact, she asserts the government actually delays discharges based upon sexual orientation when individuals are judged to be necessary, especially when deployed in combat locations.

The Lawrence Supreme Court decision was cited by Judge Phillips on numerous occasions, but most decisively with respect to “constitutionally recognized substantive due process rights associated with the autonomy of self that includes freedom of thought, belief and expression.” Lawrence portends to be a significant decision in all-future cases involving LGBT rights.

Tanya L. Domi is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, who teaches about human rights in Eurasia and is a Harriman Institute affiliated faculty member. Prior to teaching at Columbia, Domi worked internationally for more than a decade on issues related to democratic transitional development, including political and media development, human rights, gender issues, sex trafficking, and media freedom.

Domi has worked in a dozen countries. Prior to working abroad, she became a nationally known LGBT rights activist in the United States as the legislative director and military freedom initiative director at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, where she worked to repeal the ban on lesbians and gays who served in the military and was directly involved in drafting and original introduction of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 1994. She has been actively involved in the effort to repeal DADT during the past two years as a blogger and speaker, with expertise as a result of her 15 years of service in the U.S. Army as an enlisted soldier and commissioned officer.

Domi has a Masters of Arts in Human Rights from Columbia University, with a regional specialty in East Central Europe and The Balkans.

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‘War Is Peace’: White House’s Navarro Mocked Over Claim Tariffs Are ‘Tax Cuts’

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July 17, 2025

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Peter Navarro, Senior Counselor to the President for Trade and Manufacturing, says the White House likes “where we’re at” with tariffs—which he insists are “tax cuts,” despite broad disagreement from economists. Navarro also says President Trump’s tariffs have brought in $100 billion in six months, but he also insists that that money is paid by foreign countries. Ultimately, tariffs are generally paid—at least in part—by consumers, as higher prices for imported goods or for domestic products that rely on imported components.

Speaking to Fox News on Thursday (videos below), Navarro said, “when we put tariffs on the foreign countries, particularly the ones that depend on us the most, they have to eat the tariffs.”

“So tariffs, they’re not tax hikes, they’re tax cuts,” Navarro insisted.

“We’ve had $100 billion so far we raised in six months. We’re gonna have trillions over the ten years, and that’s going to pay for the big, beautiful bill. Tax cuts and debt reduction by the tune of about $2 trillion.”

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“We like where we’re at,” he claimed.

Navarro also insisted that “the reason why tariffs don’t cause negative impacts like inflation is because these countries, they depend so heavily on us. Europe, China, go around the world. They just live, they feast off us with unfair trade practices.”

“When we say, ‘No, you can’t come in unless you pay this tariff,’ they got to eat the tariff,” he again insisted, neglecting to state that the importer, and, ultimately, the consumer, pays most or all of the cost of the tariffs.

FactCheck.org, analyzing some of Navarro’s claims on tariffs back in April, reported that “tariffs, also known as customs duties, are a tax increase on the U.S. importers who pay the tariffs – not foreign countries. And because those importers often pass at least some of those costs on to U.S. consumers through price hikes, tariffs are considered to be regressive taxes that affect lower-income households more than others as a percentage of income.”

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Responding to Navarro’s claim that tariffs are tax cuts, journalist Aaron Rupar, founder of Public Notice, wrote: “War is peace.”

Professor of Law Joseph Mastrosimone wrote: “Good lord this man is insanely stupid. And he is a senior White House Counselor. Right on brand.”

Joe Walsh, the former GOP congressman turned political commentator and a Democrat, called Navarro’s claim: “Utter b——-.”

Watch the videos below or at this link.

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‘Trust in Trump’: White House Touts ‘Incredible’ Economy as Inflation Jumps

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July 17, 2025

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is crediting President Donald Trump with what she described as an “incredible economic turnaround in just six months.” However, inflation continues to rise under his administration, and the data she cited highlighted only a selective set of favorable economic indicators.

Americans “saw prices for new and used vehicles and airfares dropped last month,” Leavitt enthusiastically declared on Thursday during a press briefing.

“In addition, prices for gas, fuel oil, energy commodities, hotels, airfare, public transportation, and fresh vegetables are all down over last year,” she claimed.

“As we said all along, trust in President Trump. The American dream is back and everyday families are already reaping the benefits of this incredible economic turnaround in just six months.”

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Her statements highlighted positive data while leaving out ongoing inflation concerns.

Prices for new and used vehicles did drop last month, but both are up over the past 12 months: 0.2% for new vehicles and a hefty 2.8% for used cars and trucks, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks all these items and publishes the monthly inflation rate.

Overall, inflation last month rose to an annual rate of 2.7%, the highest level in months.

The cost of food is up 3% over last year. Electricity is up 5.8% over last year, and utility (piped) gas service is up a massive 14.2% over last year.

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Shelter is up 3.8%, and medical and transportation services are both up 3.4% over last year.

Economists cite the President’s tariffs, now beginning to take effect, along with rising costs for food, energy, and rent as the reasons for the increase in inflation.

The White House appears to be attempting to head off public concern.

“Worsening inflation poses a political challenge for President Donald Trump, who promised during last year’s presidential campaign to immediately lower costs,” the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Watch the video below or at this link.

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‘Fear Is the Tool of the Tyrant’: Maurene Comey, Fired by Trump DOJ, Sounds Alarm

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12 hours ago

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July 17, 2025

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Maurene Comey, the veteran federal prosecutor who led the cases against Jeffrey Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was fired Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice amid a sweeping Trump administration scandal over its refusal to release the so-called Epstein files. Now, she has a few words of advice for her former colleagues at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan.

“If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain,” wrote Comey, in a letter obtained by Politico. “Do not let that happen.”

Maurene Comey served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and is the daughter of the also-fired former FBI Director James Comey, who reportedly is under investigation by the Trump DOJ.

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“Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.”

Also in her letter, which Politico’s Kyle Cheney posted (below), Comey wrote: “Yesterday was unexpectedly my last day in the Office. I was summarily fired via memo from Main Justice that did not give a reason for my termination. Every person lucky enough to work in this office constantly hears four words to describe our ethos: Without Fear or Favor. Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons without fear of retribution and without favor to the powerful.”

“For the majority of my nearly ten years in SDNY, the hard part seemed to be acting ‘without favor.’ That is, making sure people with access, money, and power were not treated differently than anyone else; and making sure this office remained separate from politics and focused only on the facts and the law,” she explained. “Fear was never really conceivable. We don’t fear bad press; we have the luxury of exceptional security keeping us physically safe; and, so long as we did our work with integrity, we would get to keep serving the public in this office.”

She lamented, “we have entered a new phase where ‘without fear’ may be the challenge.”

Read Comey’s letter below or at this link.

READ MORE: Republican Says Trump on Immigration Could Be Like Lincoln Was for Slavery

 

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