Brody's Notes... Justice Department Files Brief In Opposition to Supreme Court Appeal By DADT Plantiffs

By Brody Levesque (WASHINGTON DC) NOV 10 | A U. S. Justice Department spokesman confirmed that the DOJ has filed a brief to the U. S. Supreme Court today, in opposition to the petition filed by the plaintiffs to have the high court set aside the stay of U. S. District Court Judge Virginia's injunction, barring enforcement of DADT by the Ninth U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California last month.

Lead attorney for the Log Cabin Republicans, plaintiffs in the case, Dan Woods told reporters today in Los Angeles:

"We have reviewed the government's opposition to Log Cabin's application to vacate the stay of Judge Phillips's injunction by the Ninth Circuit. In our view, the government's lengthy, detailed, 29-page brief does not address the two key arguments we presented to the Supreme Court. 

First, we argued that the premise of the government's position--that it needs time to conduct an orderly process of repealing DADT--is entirely speculative because Congress has not and very well may never repeal DADT; the government's filing today does not address that issue. 

Second, we argued that the Ninth Circuit order did not take into account the harm to servicemembers and potential enlistees resulting from the stay; the government's filing today does not respond to that point either. At this point, all we can do is to look forward to a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court."

Final Lcr Opp