Supreme Court Refuses To Block Enforcement Of Military Policy Prohibiting Openly Gay Service Members While Appeals Court Considers Issue

The Supreme Court Friday ruled that the American military ban on openly gay service members can continue to be enforced while a federal appeals court considers an earlier ruling that found the policy unconstitutional, according to the Associated Press. The justices, without comment, left a November 1st ruling intact, which in effect means that the policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” can continue to serve as standard practice for a year or more, unless Congress repeals the law. Dan Woods, an attorney for the Log Cabin Republican, who sued in 2004 challenging the constitutional validity of the policy, said “With the likelihood of Congress repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” fading with each passing day, judicial relief continues to be perhaps the most viable avenue for ending this unconstitutional policy,” adding that he would ask the Ninth United States Circuit of Appeals to accelerate its schedule in the case, which now calls for written arguments to be delivered through early March, 2011, and has yet to set a date for a hearing. The Pentagon has completed a study on the effect of lifting the policy and it is scheduled to report its conclusions to President Obama December 1st, leaked details of that report indicating a majority of the 400,000 active-duty and reserve troops surveyed as a part of the study believing that a repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” would not create any problems for unit cohesion or military readiness.