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Well that was a short-lived victory. Find out how and why the military’s ban on openly gay servicemembers has been reinstated and what it means for the eventual repeal, after the jump.
Late Friday night, a San Francisco federal appeals court ordered the military to temporarily continue DADT after the Obama administration issued a last-minute request to do so. This, of course, followed news earlier in the week that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled DADT unconstitutional.
This means "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is back in place for the time being, with one major caveat: the government is not allowed to investigate, penalize or discharge anyone who is openly gay.
According to Time.com, in a new three-page ruling, the court said the ruling was based on new information provided by the federal government, including a declaration from Major General Steven A. Hummer, who is leading the effort to repeal the policy. "In order to provide this court with an opportunity to consider fully the issues presented in the light of these previously undisclosed facts," the court wrote, that it would uphold an earlier order to keep the policy in place.
Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of the Servicemembers United group, said in a statement: "The Ninth Circuit did the right thing today in rejecting the core of the Obama Administration's request to put 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' back into place. The situation with finally ending this outdated and discriminatory federal policy has become absolutely ridiculous. This law is unconstitutional on its face, it is virtually dead in practice, and no one should be trying to resuscitate it at this point. The executive branch has been exceptionally unreasonable in the amount of time it has now let the legislative certification process drag out. It is simply not right to put the men and women of our armed forces through this circus any longer."
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