Rob Schlein, president of the Dallas Chapter of Log Cabin Republicans, sent this press release to me yesterday. Since this week’s print edition went to press early, I am posting this press release on Instant Tea.
Log Cabin Republicans wins key ruling in federal court
challenging “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy
Lawsuit introduced four years ago receives court approval to
move forward.
(Los Angeles, CA) – On June 9, 2009, Judge Virginia A. Phillips
of the Central District of California denied the U.S.
Government’s attempt to dismiss Log Cabin Republicans lawsuit
challenging the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy
as unconstitutional. Judge Phillips ruling is the culmination of
a 4 -year effort to reach a preliminary ruling on the merits of
the case.
Log Cabin Republicans case was the first direct challenge to the
Policy filed in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in
Lawrence v. Texas, which held that criminalization of homosexual
conduct by the State of Texas was unconstitutional under the Due
Process Clause.
“More than four years later and with the wind at our backs, Log
Cabin Republicans is proud to continue the fight to repeal this
policy, which puts our nation?s security and military readiness
at risk,” said Terry Hamilton, Board Chairman of Log Cabin
Republicans. “While we hoped the Obama Administration and
Democrats in Congress would fulfill their promise to do away
with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” legislatively, we cannot stand idly
by while this policy continues to violate constitutional
freedoms, especially at a time when able-bodied volunteers are
needed in our military.”
The prominent international law firm White & Case LLP has been
handling the case for Log Cabin Republicans. “We are gratified
by the court’s order denying the government’s motion to dismiss
the complaint brought by the Log Cabin Republicans,” said Dan
Woods, White & Case litigation partner in Los Angeles. “This is
the first facial challenge to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to survive
such a motion since the landmark Lawrence case. The lawsuit can
now proceed like any other civil case, and we will have the
opportunity to conduct discovery and prove that the policy is
unfairly discriminatory, does not work, should never have been
implemented, and should be reversed.”
“Log Cabin Republicans has been consistently lobbying Congress,
the Clinton, Bush and Obama Administrations since President
Clinton signed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” into law in 1993,” states
Log Cabin Republicans Spokesman Charles T. Moran. “We are
confidant that the ruling from Judge Phillips gives us ample
space to make our arguments in ways that other legal challenges
against ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ have not been able to.”
The injured party in the case, Alexander Nicholson, a former
U.S. Army Human Intelligence Collector who speaks multiple
languages, including Arabic, was honorably discharged early
pursuant to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” just six months after 9/11.
The Court has scheduled a hearing for July 6 to discuss, in
detail, the scope of discovery and a schedule for the case going
forward.
The order from the court may be found here:
https://www.logcabin.org/ct/A7slYe71cRBi/
OMG! I am applauding the Log Cabin Republicans!
Kudos to the Log Cabin Republicans! Nice to be on common ground for a change.