Tag Archives: Judge Virginia A. Phillips

DADT UPDATE: Judge Virginia Phillips DENIES Stay AGAIN, Department Of Defense ADMITS "No Enormous Consequences" From DADT Halt, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Spokesman Says There Is "NO Gaurantee’s" For DADT Repeal Vote During Lame Duck Session Or Next Year and Dan Choi and Alex Nicholson Talk to Anderson Cooper (VIDEO)

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So much DADT News overnight,  Here’s a morning update.  Hold on to your hats.

*  Federal District Judge Virginia Phillips has once again rejected the government’s request for a stay on the injunction  barring enforcement of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.  The Obama administration can now ask the Ninth Circuit for a stay — and he Obama administration most probably will which would be a travesty and unconstitutional in its own rights. 

*  A Pentagon spokesman said Monday that no disciplinary problems or mass-resignations have been reported  since last week’s judicial injunction even though for years, defenders of the policy predicted chaos and dissension in the armed forces if gay discharges were halted.

*  While the White House keeps lying and insisting that DADT must and will be repealed by Congress soon.  A spokesman from Majority Leaders Senator’s Harry Reid  had said there are “no guarantees” the votes will materialize to repeal the law in a post-election session of Congress or next year, when Republicans are expected to have more seats in both chambers.  Also Congressional observer Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute doubts Senate Democrats will overcome another filibuster in the so-called “lame duck” session of Congress. “There simply will not be the time or the inclination to take this all the way to the limit,” said Ornstein. “And so I suspect we are going to have to wait for another day to see a real resolution of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ question.

If you have read Back2Stonwall in the past, AmericaBlogGay, Pam’s House Blend, or many of the other LGBT blogs out there we have all wrote and warned over and over that if LGBT issues were not taken care of within the first few years of Obama’s tenure that there would be a good chance that they wouldn’t be due to Senate and House midterms.  A few of you listened, but many of you trusted, and even apologized and defended both the Obama administration and the HRC,  Now I’m not saying this to rub it in.  Actually I wish I would have been wrong.  But I really hope that we all have learned a lesson that the LGBT Community needs to form its own political Caucus and PAC and ONLY endorse and support PROGRESSIVE Candidates.

*  Dan Choi who re-enlisted in the Armed Forces yesterday talked last night to Anderson Cooper on AC360 as did Alexander Nicholson, the sole named plaintiff in the Log Cabin Republican case which led to the striking down of the discriminatory measure.  Watch the video below.

Judge Virginia Phillips DENIES The Government’s Request For A Stay On The DADT Injunction

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Judge Virginia Philips today DENIED the government’s request for a stay in the injunction against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.  Judge Phillips wasted no time in rejecting the government’s arguments that barring DADT immediately would be an undue burden on the military and called the justice department’s declarations to the court both vague and insufficient  

From the Associated Press
:
Phillips called (the DOJ) request ‘untimely,’ saying the government had plenty of opportunity to modify her injunction before she ordered it last Tuesday. She also balked at their admission of a Rolling Stone article to support its argument that the abrupt change in the policy would hurt military readiness. ‘I hardly need to say more than that,’ Phillips said of the article. ‘It’s hearsay. It’s not reliable.’ Phillips also said the Justice Department also did not present evidence at the trial to show how her order would cause irreparable harm to U.S. troops. Justice Department attorney Paul Freeborne told her the government had no reason to respond until her order came down. He said her nationwide injunction is unrealistic. ‘You’re requiring the Department of Justice to implement a massive policy change, a policy change that may be reversed upon appeal,’ Freeborne told her. Freeborne said the government would go to a higher court if she denied their request to temporarily freeze her injunction.”
 
Phillips is expected to issue a formal ruling later Monday or early Tuesday
 
Obviously Judge Virgina Phillips has bigger balls than our “fierce advocate”.  This almost makes one think maybe one of the three branches of government is working,
 
BRAVA Judge Philips!

Federal Judge ORDERS Obama Administration To Stop All DADT Discharges Immediately"

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Earlier today U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips who last month ruled that DADT was UNCONSTITUTIONAL saying that the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy violates the 1st Amendment rights of lesbians and gay members,after hearing appreals (And of course the DOJ had to appeal it.) has ordered the Defense Department to ‘immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding.'”

ORDERS Defendants United States of America and the Secretary of Defense immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding, that may have been commenced under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Act, or pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 654 or its implementing regulations, on or prior to the date of this Judgment

This is probably the LAST chance that President Obama will have to take the easy route out and toput up or shut up. Blame the judge and don;t appeal.  Obama doesn’t have to fight this decision., the DOJ doesn’t have to seek a stay —  For the past year, a wide array of apologists have challenged that view.  What happens now will truly l tell you all you need to know about whether the Democratic party is on your side, or whether they are simply using you for your vote and your money. 

Expect a decision shortly from the White House.