Interesting news in Washington!
Moments ago, the Obama Justice Department asked Judge Virginia Phillips to stay her broad injunction barring the military from enforcing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy until it has an opportunity to appeal the decision to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. From the Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld:
Sources said Justice Department attorneys are expected to file the request to U.S. district judge Virginia A. Phillips in Riverside, Calif. this afternoon.
Should Phillips deny the request for a stay, government attorneys are expected to file an emergency request to the U.S. court of appeals for the ninth circuit.
Repeal advocates have argued that while the Department of Justice has an obligation to defend existing law, “it would be inaccurate to characterize this common practice as a mandatory requirement that DOJ must always defend federal laws in all cases, without exception.” As DADT scholar Nathaniel Frank explained, “The court case, I think, is one of the more likely now, for the President to say, this actually is unconstitutional and although there is a tradition of defending standing law, it’s not obligated to defend a policy that it believes is unconstitutional.”
We will continue to see how this goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment