Judge Phillips Strikes Again

Judge Phillips Strikes Again

In what could be a landmark ruling for gay rights, a federal judge orders immediate world-wide ban on military’s enforcement of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

In an action that may practically put an end to political wrangling over how and when to end the U.S. military’s discriminatory practice of discharging gay service members, U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips has issued a world-wide injunction against the enforcement of the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Today’s ruling is being hailed by civil rights advocates because, to many observers, the judge’s ruling has delivered a key civil rights goal that President Obama and Congressional leaders have thus far failed to enact, despite several promises to do so. The Obama Justice Department has sixty days to appeal the ruling.

Turning aside arguments from Justice Department lawyers that Congress, not the courts, should decide the issue, Judge Phillips said the law is not only unconstitutional, but that it has a “direct and deleterious effect” on the military. The injunction follows upon Judge Phillips conclusion, in early September, that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” violates free speech and due process rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.