BREAKING: SCOTUS Rejects Challenge To Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The U.S. Supreme Court has just refused to hear a challenge to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a challenge to the Pentagon policy forbidding gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, granting an Obama administration request to maintain the Clinton-era "don't ask, don't tell" directive. The court said it will not hear an appeal from former Army Capt. James Pietrangelo II, who was dismissed under the military's policy.

The federal appeals court in Boston earlier threw out a lawsuit filed by Pietrangelo and 11 other veterans. He was the only member of that group who asked the high court to rule that the policy is unconstitutional. In 1993, President Bill Clinton established the policy as a compromise after strong resistance from the military and Congress toward allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces. In court papers, the administration said the appeals court ruled correctly in this case when it found that "don't ask, don't tell" is "rationally related to the government's legitimate interest in military discipline and cohesion." Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman referred requests for comment to the Justice Department, but said the military policy "implements the law."

The Obama administration asked the Court to uphold DADT?

UPDATE: Well, we certainly would want any awkwardness when it comes to our civil rights.

The rebuff spares President Barack Obama’s administration from the awkward task of mounting a legal defense for a policy the president says should be repealed. In urging the Supreme Court not to hear the appeal, administration lawyers said a lower court was correct to uphold the policy.

(Update via JMG reader Rebecca.)

UPDATE II: Law Dork evaluates the decision. He makes me feel a little better about this.

The Supreme Court has a docket that is pretty much completely of its own choosing, a process known as certiorari, or cert for short. If the court grants cert, it accepts the case, will receive a full briefing on the issues in the case and decide the merits of the legal issues between the parties. The action taken today was denial of certiorari, which ultimately means that there were not at least four justices willing to accept the case.

So, today’s action was not a decision on the merits of the case; the Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

What’s more, the decision, particularly coming right now, likely tells us little about what the members of the Court actually think about the constitutionality of the policy. Why? Because a justice, say Justice Ginsburg, might believe the policy is unconstitutional but could vote against cert because she was uncertain of the Court’s other members’ views and did not want to risk losing the argument. Additionally, with the Court is in the midst of a personnel change, I’d think we’re unlikely to see many high-profile, likely 5-4 case, cert grants before a new justice takes the bench.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, this case came to the Court with a very odd background posture. As detailed here, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a legal group dedicated to supporting lesbian and gay soldiers, had been involved in this case, originally representing the 12 individuals challenging the policy. The organization, however, was no longer representing James Pietrangelo when he sought certiorari. SLDN continued to represent the other 11 individuals and filed a brief opposing having the Court accept this case.