Nice!
Via The Advocate:
In a Tuesday ruling, U.S. district judge Virginia A. Phillips ordered the Defense Department to “immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding” related to “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
In her order Phillips did not specify when the injunction would become effective. Justice Department attorneys have objected in court to the immediate halt of DADT enforcement and may appeal the injunction to the U.S. court of appeals for the ninth circuit.
Pam has the full text of the ruling, so hop over there if you want to read it.
John Aravosis offers important analysis:
The President, who is himself a constitutional scholar, has been handed the golden opportunity to end DADT once and for all. A federal judge has now ruled that the gay ban is unconstitutional, and he has ordered the federal government to stop the discharges immediately. The President now has the power – given to him by a federal judge – to do the right thing, to do what he promised, to side with the civil rights community. All he has to do is not appeal, and DADT is over.
It’s a no-brainer. Even for this administration that is loathe to do anything bold, loathe to be seen as responsible for anything even slightly “controversial.” Well, now they have their out. It’s the judge’s fault. President Obama can simply choose not to appeal the case, to respect the judge’s decision, and DADT is over. It’s history.
Or the President can direct his Department of Justice to oppose the judge’s order, to appeal the case, and to defend DADT – to defend bigotry, to go down in history on the same side as those who chose to defend discrimination against another class of Americans earlier in the 20th century. It’s no longer up to Congress, it’s not longer “out of the President’s hands.” It’s in Barack Obama’s hands. Will America’s first African-American president side with the bigots, or will he side with civil rights. Will he act boldly, or will he choose the way of the coward?
This is, indeed, quite a test, and quite an opportunity for the Obama administration. Here’s to them doing the right thing.
