I'll bet Tommy missed the part where it says the lawsuit was brought
before the court by Republicans.
On 10/12/2010 1:33 PM, dick wrote:
BTW that is called legislating from the bench, something that judges
should not be able to do with laws that have been in existence for the
better part of 2 decades. Kinda makes you thing the judge has an
agenda or something. Whether you agree with what she did or not, this
is not the way to do it.
On 10/12/2010 04:14 PM, Tommy News wrote:
Judge Orders Injunction on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 12, 2010
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<http://www.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/10/12/us/AP-US-Gays-in-Military.html>
* Print
<http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/10/12/us/AP-US-Gays-in-Military.html?_r=1&emc=na&pagewanted=print>
<http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=goto&opzn&page=www.nytimes.com/aponline/yr/mo/day/us&pos=Frame4A&sn2=a520824f/27cc64f6&sn1=9359d1fa/659afedb&camp=foxsearch2010_emailtools_1225556c_nyt5&ad=127hrs_120x60_08.25&goto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efoxsearchlight%2Ecom%2F127hours>
*Filed at 3:46 p.m. ET*
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal judge issued a worldwide injunction
Tuesday stopping enforcement of the "don't ask, don't tell
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/d/dont_ask_dont_tell/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>"
policy, ending the U.S. military's 17-year-old ban on openly gay troops.
U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips' landmark ruling was
widely cheered by gay rights organizations that credited her with
getting accomplished what President Obama
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per>
and Washington politics could not.
U.S. Department of Justice
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/j/justice_department/index.html?inline=nyt-org>
attorneys have 60 days to appeal. Legal experts say they are under no
legal obligation to do so and could let Phillips' ruling stand.
The federal government is reviewing the ruling and has no immediate
comment, said Tracy Schmaler, spokesman for the Department of Justice.
Phillips declared the law unconstitutional after a two-week nonjury
trial in federal court in Riverside and said she would issue a
nationwide injunction. But she asked first for input from Department
of Justice attorneys and the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay rights
group that filed the lawsuit in 2004 to stop the ban's enforcement.
The Log Cabin Republicans asked her for an immediate injunction so
the policy can no longer be used against any U.S. military personnel
anywhere in the world.
"The order represents a complete and total victory for the Log Cabin
Republicans and reaffirms the constitutional rights of gays and
lesbians in the miltiary for fighting and dying for our country,"
said Dan Woods, an attorney for the Log Cabin group.
Government attorneys objected, saying such an abrupt change might
harm military operations in a time of war. They had asked Phillips to
limit her ruling to the members of the Log Cabin Republicans, a
19,000-member group that includes current and former military service
members.
The Department of Justice attorneys also said Congress should decide
the issue — not her court.
Phillips disagreed, saying the law doesn't help military readiness
and instead has a "direct and deleterious effect" on the armed
services by hurting recruiting during wartime and requiring the
discharge of service members with critical skills and training.
She said the law violates the free-speech and due process rights of
service members after listening to the testimonies of military
officers who have been discharged under the policy.
Legal experts say the Obama administration could choose to not appeal
her ruling to end the ban — but Department of Justice attorneys are
not likely to stay mum since Obama has made it clear he wants
Congress to repeal the policy.
"The president has taken a very consistent position here, and that
is: 'Look, I will not use my discretion in any way that will step on
Congress' ability to be the sole decider about this policy here,' "
said Diane H. Mazur, legal co-director of the Palm Center, a think
tank at the University of California at Santa Barbara
<http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_california/index.html?inline=nyt-org>
that supports a repeal.
Gay rights advocates say they worry they lost a crucial opportunity
to change the law when Senate Republicans opposed the defense bill
earlier this month because of a "don't ask, don't tell" repeal
provision.
If Democrats lose seats in the upcoming elections, repealing the ban
could prove even more difficult — if not impossible — next year.
Woods said the administration should be seizing the opportunity to
let a judge do what politics has been unable to do.
The "don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibits the military from asking
about the sexual orientation of service members but bans those who
are gay from serving openly. Under the 1993 policy, service men and
women who acknowledge being gay or are discovered engaging in
homosexual activity, even in the privacy of their own homes off base,
are subject to discharge.
More:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/10/12/us/AP-US-Gays-in-Military.html?_r=1&emc=na
<http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/10/12/us/AP-US-Gays-in-Military.html?_r=1&emc=na>
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