SAN FRANCISCO — The federal government is asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its order last week demanding an immediate halt to the enforcement of the ban on openly gay troops in the military.
The Obama administration filed an emergency motion late Thursday in response to the appellate court’s decision last week to lift its stay of a lower court’s ruling last year that found the ban, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” unconstitutional.
Department of Justice lawyers said in the motion that ending the ban now would pre-empt the “orderly process” for rolling back the 17-year-old policy as outlined in the law passed and signed by the president in December.
The Justice Department asked the 9th Circuit to issue a decision by the end of today.
The Court of Appeals ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by the Log Cabin Republicans against the Department of Justice.
The gay-rights group last year persuaded a lower court judge to declare the ban unconstitutional after a trial that put the Obama administration in the position of defending a policy it opposes.
The court said last week there’s no longer any purpose for a stay the appeals court had placed on U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips’ lower court ruling that had halted the policy.
The court cited the Obama administration’s recent position in another case involving same-sex marriage that it is unconstitutional to treat gay Americans differently under the law.
