Obama Administration Wants Court to Reconsider Immediate DADT Halt
Last week, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in San Francisco ordered the Pentagon to stop enforcing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy immediately. Now, the Obama administration is asking them to reconsider, saying that their order disrupts the government's "orderly process" of rolling back the 17-year-old ban on gays in the military. "Congress made quite clear that it believed the terms of the transition were critical to the credibility and success of this historic policy change, and to ensure continued military effectiveness," said the Department of Justice in a statement. "Any court-ordered action forced upon the military services so close to the completion of this repeal policy pre-empts the deliberate process established by Congress and the President to ensure an orderly and successful transition of this significant policy change."
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The lawsuit originates with the Log Cabin Republicans who said that the DADT policy was unconstitutional. Last week's ruling to halt the policy's enforcement right away was a victory the Log Cabin Republicans, and this week, they don't seem happy about the setback. "This latest maneuver by the President continues a pattern of doublespeak that all Americans should find troubling. All this does is further confuse the situation for our men and women in uniform,” said the organization's executive director and combat veteran R. Clarke Cooper in a statement. "It is shameful that a president who has taken credit for opposing the policy is taking extreme measures to keep it on life support."
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The Justice Department asked the court to respond to the reconsideration request by Friday.
