U.S. Government tells the Supreme Court to Keep DADT while the Appeal is still happening

Now before folks start setting fire to their torches, please read Metro Weekly's take on it: 

In a filing at the U.S. Supreme Court this afternoon, the U.S. government, represented by acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, asked the court to leave in place the stay of U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips's injunction of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. The government's argument would keep DADT in effect while the Log Cabin Republicans v. United States case is on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

In part, Katyal concludes:

[T]he court of appeals reasonably decided to stay the district court’s injunction in its entirety, pending consideration of the merits of the government’s appeal. 

That decision does not remotely present the sort of exceptional circumstances that would warrant interference with an interim order of the court of appeals.  To the contrary, the court of appeals’ stay comports with this Court’s well-settled precedents, permits the continued nationwide operation of an Act of Congress that has governed in the military for 17 years, and preserves the status quo pending the court of appeals’ consideration of the merits of this facial challenge to that federal statute. Accordingly, this Court should deny Log Cabin’s application to vacate the stay.

Government's Opposition, at 28-29 (citations omitted). A declaration from Clifford Stanley, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, dated October 13, is attached to the government's filing.

That's legal talk for ya, but according to some of my future law students, this is procedure.