As expected, a federal judge in California yesterday officially denied the government’s request to continue enforcing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell pending appeal.
Judge Virginia Phillips, who last week issued an injunction ordering the military to stop enforcing the policy, refused to grant a stay of her injunction.
She chastised the government for waiting until after she issued her injunction to file their objections. She also called its arguments “conclusory and unpersuasive.”
The government, which is appealing Phillips’ ruling that DADT is unconstitutional even as President Obama promises to repeal DADT, is expected to ask the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for a stay.
The Pentagon yesterday told recruiters to begin accepting recruits who reveal that they’re gay, but advised the recruiters to warn enlistees that the policy could be reinstated at any time.
“Part of the argument for staying the injunction is it will cause irreparable harm on the military,” Adam Winkler, a constitutional law professor at UCLA, told the National Law Journal. “If the military can just stop enforcing the policy immediately, as they announced they’re doing, it’s hard to see how it really hurts the military.”
A handful of former troops discharged under DADT signed up to re-enlist yesterday, including vocal DADT opponent Lt. Dan Choi.
