Ninth Circuit Court Dismisses LCR Appeal To Have DADT Declared Unconstitutional

Saying that the issue was rendered moot by last week's implementation of the legislative repeal of DADT, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court's ruling that the law was unconstitutional. That case was brought by the Log Cabin Republicans, who have continued to press the issue should another administration attempt to reinstall the law.

Chris Geidner reports at Metro Weekly:

The Ninth Circuit panel -- made up of circuit judges Arthur L. Alarcin, Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, and Barry G. Silverman -- issued the decision per curiam, meaning the decision was issued for the court and not in the name of any particular judge. Once the court decided to dismiss the case because of the repeal of 10 U.S.C. 654 -- the DADT statute -- the decision did not address the underlying issue at trial of the constitutionality of DADT. In the LCR statement, R. Clarke Cooper, the group's executive director, said, "The ruling in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States is the reason why Congress finally acted to end this failed and unconstitutional policy. This decision by the Ninth Circuit denies more than 14,000 discharged gay and lesbian servicemembers an important means of obtaining justice for the wrong perpetuated against them under the ban, and leaves open the possibility of future violations of servicemembers' rights.