Obama Administration Looking to Extend Ban on Gays in the Military
The Obama administration has asked a San Francisco judge to reverse his ruling to end the enforcement of the “don't ask, don't tell policy,” which prohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.
The administration is requesting that they be allowed to stick to a transition timeline set up last year after a Congressional vote in favor of having the ban on gays in the military repealed. The Justice Department argues that the ban needs to remain in place until officials are certain the military is actually prepared to handle the change.
Military officials may be able to come to such a decision in weeks, according to CNN.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
In an emergency motion filed late Thursday, government officials asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a federal district judge's ruling that the ban should be immediately ended on the grounds that it violates the Constitution.
The Obama administration, arguing that the judge is overstepping his jurisdiction, asked the appeals court to make a decision this week.
The Justice Department argues, in court documents:
“By reimposing a worldwide injunction running against every member of the military and administered by a single district judge, the panel’s order denies the Department of Defense the very thing that Congress and the President believed was most likely to bring about effective transition to open military service by gay and lesbian Service members: the ability to exercise their best judgment about the nature and pace of the transition, so as to ensure that the transition is... the product of the military’s own, informed choices (and reflecting the choices of the democratically accountable Branches of government), rather than the product of a judicial order.”
Gay rights group, the Log Cabin Republicans, filed the lawsuit against the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military.
“It is sad and disappointing that the government continues to try to prevent openly gay and lesbian Americans from serving in our armed forces,” Dan Woods, a lawyer representing the Log Cabin Republicans, said to the Los Angeles Times Friday.
