Department Of Justice Files Brief Seeking To Resume Discharge Of Openly Gay Service Members While It Appeals Ruling Finding That Policy Unconstitutional; Argues Judge Phillips Committed “Extraordinary And Unwarranted Intrusion Into Military Affairs”

The Department of Justice Wednesday filed a 25-page brief with the Ninth United States Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco requesting an emergency order that would allow military authorities to resume discharging openly gay and lesbian service members while the government appears United States District Judge Virginia A. Phillips order finding the policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” unconstitutional, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The brief argues Phillips committed an “extraordinary and unwarranted intrusion into military affairs” when ordering an immediate injunction be enacted preventing any and all enforcement of discharges under the 1993 law. The Obama administration is seeking a suspension of Phillips’ order by the end of Wednesday and a restoration of the policy during the appeal process. Attorneys also renewed arguments that Phillips, in rendering her decision, rejected: that the judicial system should defer to Congress’ conclusion that the law increased military effectiveness, that the Log Cabin Republicans, who brought the suit Phillips ruled on, had failed to demonstrate that any of its members were harmed by the policy, and that an injunction against any and all further enforcement of the policy should have been limited to members of the Log Cabin Republicans instead of being applied to the entire military.