Obama Is Wrong, the Republicans Are Right
The Obama administration's Department of Justice is seeking to overturn the world-wide injunction against enforcment of the noxious "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Though the president may personally object to the discriminatory strategies that have been used to hound thousands of gay and lesbian service members from the military, his administration is mounting its legal defense.
The Obama administration's Department of Justice is seeking to overturn the world-wide injunction against enforcment of the noxious "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Though the president may personally object to the discriminatory strategies that have been used to hound thousands of gay and lesbian service members from the military, his administration is mounting its legal defense.
There have been lots of objections. But the loudest complaints are coming from Republicans. Not, unfortunately, all Republicans. But the Log Cabin Republicans -- the gay and lesbian group that secured the injunction from a federal judge -- are mounting the defense of the injunction.
"At the same time the Pentagon was complying with the injunction against enforcing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' President Obama's attorneys were making the argument that compliance would be impossible," says Christian Berle, a leader of the group. "Log Cabin Republicans believes that the Department of Justice is severely underestimating the professionalism of our men and women in uniform. The United States military is the most powerful, most adaptable armed force in the world. It has dealt with racial integration and greatly expanded opportunities for women, and has grown stronger because of it. Open service for gay and lesbian Americans will be no different. Granting this stay would perpetuate a grave injustice against servicemembers whose only desire is to defend our country honorably and honestly."
Dan Woods, the lawyer who represented the group in the Log Cabin Republicans vs United States of America lawsuit -- which led to a ruling by Federal Judge Virginia Phillips that the policy violated the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution and the October 12 decision by Judge Phillips to issue a world-wide immediate and permanent injunction against enforcement of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
"As our brief shows, the government has clearly failed to justify why a stay should be granted," says Woods. "The position of the government that the court's injunction will prove harmful to the nation's military strength and readiness is contradicted by the evidence in the case. In fact, because 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' weakens our national security, as the judge's ruling found and as the President has repeatedly admitted, the effect of staying the injunction would be to continue to weaken our national security. The government should be ashamed to be seeking that result."
The Log Cabin lawyer is right: legally, logically and morally. The Department of Justice does have a responsibility to enforce the law, even when the law is objectionable. But it does not have a responsibility to defend a policy that a federal judge has soundly and unequivocally identified as an assault on the Constitution that violates the basic premises of a free and just society.
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The Obama administration's Department of Justice is seeking to overturn the world-wide injunction against enforcment of the noxious "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Though the president may personally object to the discriminatory strategies that have been used to hound thousands of gay and lesbian service members from the military, his administration is mounting its legal defense.
There have been lots of objections. But the loudest complaints are coming from Republicans. Not, unfortunately, all Republicans. But the Log Cabin Republicans -- the gay and lesbian group that secured the injunction from a federal judge -- are mounting the defense of the injunction.
"At the same time the Pentagon was complying with the injunction against enforcing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' President Obama's attorneys were making the argument that compliance would be impossible," says Christian Berle, a leader of the group. "Log Cabin Republicans believes that the Department of Justice is severely underestimating the professionalism of our men and women in uniform. The United States military is the most powerful, most adaptable armed force in the world. It has dealt with racial integration and greatly expanded opportunities for women, and has grown stronger because of it. Open service for gay and lesbian Americans will be no different. Granting this stay would perpetuate a grave injustice against servicemembers whose only desire is to defend our country honorably and honestly."
Dan Woods, the lawyer who represented the group in the Log Cabin Republicans vs United States of America lawsuit -- which led to a ruling by Federal Judge Virginia Phillips that the policy violated the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution and the October 12 decision by Judge Phillips to issue a world-wide immediate and permanent injunction against enforcement of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
"As our brief shows, the government has clearly failed to justify why a stay should be granted," says Woods. "The position of the government that the court's injunction will prove harmful to the nation's military strength and readiness is contradicted by the evidence in the case. In fact, because 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' weakens our national security, as the judge's ruling found and as the President has repeatedly admitted, the effect of staying the injunction would be to continue to weaken our national security. The government should be ashamed to be seeking that result."
The Log Cabin lawyer is right: legally, logically and morally. The Department of Justice does have a responsibility to enforce the law, even when the law is objectionable. But it does not have a responsibility to defend a policy that a federal judge has soundly and unequivocally identified as an assault on the Constitution that violates the basic premises of a free and just society.
The Obama administration's Department of Justice is seeking to overturn the world-wide injunction against enforcment of the noxious "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Though the president may personally object to the discriminatory strategies that have been used to hound thousands of gay and lesbian service members from the military, his administration is mounting its legal defense.
There have been lots of objections. But the loudest complaints are coming from Republicans. Not, unfortunately, all Republicans. But the Log Cabin Republicans -- the gay and lesbian group that secured the injunction from a federal judge -- are mounting the defense of the injunction.
"At the same time the Pentagon was complying with the injunction against enforcing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' President Obama's attorneys were making the argument that compliance would be impossible," says Christian Berle, a leader of the group. "Log Cabin Republicans believes that the Department of Justice is severely underestimating the professionalism of our men and women in uniform. The United States military is the most powerful, most adaptable armed force in the world. It has dealt with racial integration and greatly expanded opportunities for women, and has grown stronger because of it. Open service for gay and lesbian Americans will be no different. Granting this stay would perpetuate a grave injustice against servicemembers whose only desire is to defend our country honorably and honestly."
Dan Woods, the lawyer who represented the group in the Log Cabin Republicans vs United States of America lawsuit -- which led to a ruling by Federal Judge Virginia Phillips that the policy violated the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution and the October 12 decision by Judge Phillips to issue a world-wide immediate and permanent injunction against enforcement of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
"As our brief shows, the government has clearly failed to justify why a stay should be granted," says Woods. "The position of the government that the court's injunction will prove harmful to the nation's military strength and readiness is contradicted by the evidence in the case. In fact, because 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' weakens our national security, as the judge's ruling found and as the President has repeatedly admitted, the effect of staying the injunction would be to continue to weaken our national security. The government should be ashamed to be seeking that result."
The Log Cabin lawyer is right: legally, logically and morally. The Department of Justice does have a responsibility to enforce the law, even when the law is objectionable. But it does not have a responsibility to defend a policy that a federal judge has soundly and unequivocally identified as an assault on the Constitution that violates the basic premises of a free and just society.