Government Request Denied, DADT Injunction Remains in Place
After 5 p.m. Pacific Time today, U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips denied the Department of Justice’s request for a stay pending the government’s appeal of Log Cabin Republicans v. United States. It was not clear from her ruling if she had independently considered the government’s request for a 5-day stay so that the government could seek a stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
At the end of a day in which the Defense Department announced that military recruiting stations are to accept applications from out GLB servicemembers, the ruling from Phillips — though expected after Phillips tentatively denied the stay at a hearing on Monday — was one more blow to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the name given to the 1993 law and military regulations requiring the discharge of out GLB servicemembers.
Calling the government’s additional evidence provided in its request for the stay “conclusory and unpersuasive,” Phillips found that all of the four factors for granting a stay weighed against the government’s request.
R. Clarke Cooper, the executive director of LCR, said in a statement, “Judge Phillips is right to stand with servicemembers by rejecting President Obama’s request to continue this discriminatory policy.
“It is vital that as a nation we uphold the fundamental constitutional rights of all soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coast guardsmen,” he continued. “With recruiters accepting gay and lesbian applicants and a week having passed without incident, it is clear that our military is well-equipped to adapt to open service, and eager to get on with the work of defending our freedom.”
It was not immediately clear if the government would appeal the denial of a stay, although its earlier request for a five-day stay to do so makes the appeal appear likely. If the Ninth Circuit denies the stay, the government could appeal that denial to the U.S. Supreme Court. The stay request, coming out of a court in the Ninth Circuit, would be considered by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who can refer the matter to the whole Supreme Court or decide the matter himself.
DADT has been prohibited from being enforced by Phillips’s order for more than 175 hours.
Read the order: Order Denying Stay.pdf
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