Breaking: USA Federal Judge Pushes Gay Agenda, Strikes Down ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
From citizenLink:
Days before the U.S. Congress is set to return, a federal judge in California struck down a long-standing military law – which bans homosexuals from openly serving in the military – and quite possibly sending a message to legislators to repeal the 1993 law.
Federal District judge Virginia A. Phillips, a native of Orange County, Calif., ruled on Thursday that the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) law was unconstitutional. Furthermore, she wrote that it violated the substantive due process (5th Amendment) and free speech rights (1st Amendment) of the Log Cabin Republican’s (LCR) membership.
Ed Whelan, constitutional scholar and president of Ethics and Public Policy Center, said this ruling was politically motivated at its very core.
Case in point: The Obama’s Department of Justice (DOJ) failed to defend the law.
“(The DOJ) refused to put forward any serious defense, because its political agenda trumped its obligation to defend the law,” Whelan said. “This is part of the Obama administration’s ongoing sabotage of the DADT law. It also just shows liberal judicial activism in operation.”
Whelan said the DOJ will likely go through the motions of filing an appeal, but not vigorously defend.
LCR, an organization of gay- and lesbian-identified members, filed the legal challenge back in 2004. Phillips is expected to issue a final judgment next week – which could prevent DADT’s enforcement nationwide.
Gay activists cheered the ruling; however, their real concern is that the Senate will not pass the 2011 Defense Authorization bill – with an attached measure that repeals DADT – before the much-anticipated political power shift that may occur following the Nov. 2 elections.
The U.S. House passed H.R. 5136 by a vote of 324-194. To pass the Senate, however, a 60-vote hurdle must be achieved to break a filibuster on the measure.
Bob McGinnis, senior fellow with the Family Research Council, said Phillips cited a false argument: That “retention” and “recruitment” were undermined by DADT.
“I would argue it’s just the opposite,” said McGinnis. “For more than 230 years, the military has had (in place) a ban on homosexual conduct, not only because of the health consequences for the good of the service, but also for the morale and cohesion issues.”
Tommy Sears, executive director of the Center for Military Readiness laid the blame of this ruling at the feet of the newest Supreme Court Justice, Elena Kagan.
“As Solicitor General, she created the conditions for the ruling we received last night, as she failed to appeal a case before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that involved an Air Force major. By not appealing that ruling and vigorously defending the law – as was her duty– she created the conditions.”