Obama Administration ask appeals court to reconsider DADT block

Just a week after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco lifted a stay on enforcement of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the Obama administration Thursday evening asked the court to reconsider the order. CNN reports that while U.S. officials have been moving ahead with dismantling the policy, they objected to having the courts force the government to officially repeal it at this time.

At issue in the complex legal fight is whether “don’t ask, don’t tell” can remain in effect — even in name only — while the legal fight over its constitutionality is being carried out in the federal courts. Judges have been at odds over the enforcement issue for months.

The case has put the Obama administration in an unusual position of supporting a repeal, but at the same time filing court motions to prevent it from happening faster than planned. Military officials suggest the policy compliance changes eliminating “don’t ask, don’t tell” could be finished in a few weeks.

Unsurprisingly, the Log Cabin Republicans have taken enormous issue with this latest round of doublespeak on behalf of the administration.

Per a press release:

“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 R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director, combat veteran and captain in the United States Army Reserve. “Let me be clear – the president is asking the court for the power to continue threatening servicemembers with investigation and discharge, and the right to turn away qualified Americans from military service for no reason other than their sexual orientation. Even if the administration never uses that power, it is still wrong, and the Ninth Circuit was clear that there is no justification for continuing the violation of servicemembers’ constitutional rights. ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is an offense to American values that should have been gone long ago. It is shameful that a president who has taken credit for opposing the policy is taking extreme measures to keep it on life support.”

“The motion that the government filed today has no other purpose than to request – on an emergency basis – that the military be permitted to investigate and discharge servicemembers, and block new enlistments, based solely on those individuals’ sexuality,” said Dan Woods, partner of White & Case and lead attorney in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States.  “The government’s request is inexplicable on any other basis.”

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