Obama Seeks Stay on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Ruling

Obama Seeks Stay on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Ruling

Charlie Savage
New York Times
Oct. 14, 2010

WASHINGTON — Saying it is preparing to appeal a ruling striking down the law that bans gay men and women from serving openly in the United States military, the Obama administration on Thursday asked the federal judge who issued the ruling for an emergency stay of her decision.

In a set of filings before Judge Virginia Phillips of California, Obama administration officials argued that she should suspend her decision earlier this week to issue an injunction preventing the military from expelling gay and lesbian service members under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law. Last month, Judge Phillips ruled that the law was unconstitutional.

The filings included a 48-page declaration by Clifford L. Stanley, the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness. He argued that immediately blocking that policy worldwide would create large logistical problems and would disrupt their own efforts to prepare the armed forces and work with Congress to repeal the policy in an orderly way.

During the appeal, “the military should not be required to suddenly and immediately restructure a major personnel policy that has been in place for years, particularly during a time when the nation is involved in combat operations overseas,” Mr. Stanley argued. “The stakes here are so high, and the potential harm so great, that caution is in order.”

But Dan Woods, a lawyer representing the Log Cabin Republicans — the group that brought the lawsuit against the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy — issued a statement vowing to fight the request for a stay.

“We are not surprised by the government’s action, as it repeats the broken promises and empty words from President Obama avowing to end ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ while at the same directing his Justice Department to defend this unconstitutional policy,” he said. “Now that the government has filed a request for a stay, we will oppose it vigorously because brave, patriotic gays and lesbians are serving in our armed forces to fight for all of our constitutional rights while the government is denying them theirs.”

Mr. Obama, appearing on Thursday at a town-hall style meeting with young adults in Washington, told the audience that he believed that anyone who wants to serve in the military should be allowed to do so, regardless of his or her sexual orientation. And he said he believed the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell ban would end during his presidency.

But he portrayed his view that the law is discriminatory in the context of his request that Congress repeal it. He did not address the federal ruling that has struck it down and his administration’s response to that decision.

Meanwhile on Thursday, the top uniformed lawyers in each military service — three-star officers known as the Judge Advocate Generals — sent an e-mail to military lawyers in the field formally informing them of Judge Phillips’ injunction against enforcing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell statute, a Pentagon spokesman said.

“The e-mail noted that the U.S. government is contemplating whether to appeal and to seek a stay of the injunction,” said the spokesman, Col. Dave Lapan, in a statement. “The Department of Defense will of course obey the law, and the e-mail noted that, in the meantime, the department will abide by the terms in the court’s ruling, effective as of the time and date of the ruling.”

The Pentagon’s general counsel, Jeh Johnson, was part of the decision to send the e-mail, Colonel Lapan said in a statement. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Stanley have both been part of the Defense Department working group that has been assessing the impact of a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law, and developing a plan to implement such a repeal should it occur.