The Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals Grants Department Of Justice Request To Extend Stay Of Military Ban On Openly Gay Service Members

Late Monday, a federal court appeals court extended indefinitely its stay on a judge’s order that halted enforcement of the American military’s ban on openly gay service members, placing, according to the Associated Press, pressure on the Obama administration to prevail upon the Senate to repeal the law before the new Congress is sworn in. A three-judge panel of the Ninth United States Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Department of Justice’s request for a stay while it challenges District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips’ ruling that the ban, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” is unconstitutional. The ruling Monday now means that the armed forces can continue to investigate and discharge gay and lesbians whose sexual orientation are disclosed. An eight-page ruling Monday, two of the three judges said that they were persuaded by Department of Justice’s argument against Phillip’s decision that an immediate injunction against the policy “will seriously disrupt ongoing and determined efforts by the Administration to devise an orderly change,” writing that “The public interest in enduring orderly change of this magnitude in the military – if that is what is to happen – strongly militates in favour of a stay,” wrote Judges Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain and Stephen S. Trott, adding “Furthermore, if the administration is successful in persuading Congress to eliminate (the policy), this case and controversy will become moot.” Judge William Fletcher wrote a partial dissent, stating that he would have preferred the panel heard oral arguments before administrating the stay, and that he would have prevented the policy from being applied to discharge any existing service members while the case was on appeal. R. Clarke Cooper, the executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay rights group that brought the suit before Judge Phillips, said of Monday’s ruling “The president claims to want to see “don’t ask, don’t tell” ended. It is time that he stop talking and start working to make a real difference for gay and lesbian Americans by pushing for repeal when Congress returns.”