The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused Sept. 29 to rule on the constitutionality of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy that has been repealed, according to the Sacramento Bee.
The court ruled that the issue was a moot point since lesbian, gay and bisexual U.S. residents can now enlist and serve in the military.
“We cannot say with virtual certainty that the Congress that passed the Repeal Act—or a future Congress whose composition, agenda, and circumstances we cannot know—will re-enact don’t ask, don’t tell,” the judges said. “We can only speculate, and our speculation cannot breathe life into this case.”
The gay-rights organization Log Cabin Republicans filed the lawsuit seven years ago to challenge DADT.
Log Cabin issued a statement expressing its disappointment with the court’s decision. Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper said, “The ruling in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States is the reason why Congress finally acted to end this failed and unconstitutional policy. This decision by the Ninth Circuit denies more than 14,000 discharged gay and lesbian servicemembers an important means of obtaining justice for the wrong perpetuated against them under the ban, and leaves open the possibility of future violations of servicemembers’ rights.”
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) also issued a statement, with Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis saying, “”This decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals was not unexpected, but we do regret that the court did not uphold Judge Phillips’ ruling that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was unconstitutional. Notwithstanding today’s decision, the Log Cabin case, like the Cook case before it, played a major role in persuading policy makers to repeal DADT.”
Jon Davidson, legal director at Lambda Legal, said in a separate statement, “We are deeply disappointed that the Ninth Circuit chose to erase the factual findings and legal conclusions reached after years of litigation and a lengthy trial that thousands upon thousands of lesbian, gay and bisexual service members’ constitutional rights were violated for 18 years by Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”