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CNN-3:16 pm-A federal judge ordered that the U.S. military stop enforcing the don't ask, don't tell policy on Tuesday.
Judge Virginia Phillips ordered the military "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"."
In my experience, most of those booted under DADT had other issues that made them unfit for service, TPTB just used DADT as an expedient method of getting them out.
DADT was a reasonable stopgap measure to allow gays to serve. much like the "colored units" of days gone by. But, IMHO, DADT has outlived its usefulness and society is ready to accept gays serving openly.
In my experience, most of those booted under DADT had other issues that made them unfit for service, TPTB just used DADT as an expedient method of getting them out.
DADT was a reasonable stopgap measure to allow gays to serve. much like the "colored units" of days gone by. But, IMHO, DADT has outlived its usefulness and society is ready to accept gays serving openly.
If the judge has no authority then what good is the ruling? Its like a judge in Spain trying to try Bush for war crimes, if the judge has no authority then it is meaningless.
It has definitely been used to discharge gays with stellar records and no issues with the military, but not always.
I just don't get that. As a former unit commander I think it is incredibly stupid and short sighted to get rid of a stellar soldier simply because they are gay. If I had my way, any commander who pulled that crap would be court martialed for stupidity.
Oh, you are absolutely right, and like I said, it varied from unit to unit. At least at one time, training on DADT was less than ideal, and since the discharges are handled at the command level, some would turn a blind eye to technical violations of DADT, while some would overzealously enforce it.
Didn't the senate rule to uphold DADT within the past couple of months? How is this ruling relevant?
If the judge has no authority then what good is the ruling? Its like a judge in Spain trying to try Bush for war crimes, if the judge has no authority then it is meaningless.
The judge has absolutely has authority over us code law, which is what DADT is.
Reading the article, how does a district court judge have authority over the military that operates outside of that jurisdiction? Where is RightinNYC?
Reading the article, how does a district court judge have authority over the military that operates outside of that jurisdiction? Where is RightinNYC?
Based on what I have read, one of the issues with DADT is that it's enforcement has varied widely across different commands. It has definitely been used to discharge gays with stellar records and no issues with the military, but not always. It has been used by people who want out of the service as a easy way out(just tell some one in the chain of command "I am gay" and get a free and easy discharge), but again, not always, and this has been mostly stopped. I can dig up some documentation on this if you wish.
I would like his opinion too...damn real life keeping him busy....
DADT is a US code, or federal law. Federal judges do have jurisdiction over federal law.
But, Federal judges don't have jurisdiction over the UCMJ and DoD regulations.
We must admit that we don't always get the whole story in those cases. In actuality, the only evidence that gays, disharged under DADT, had exemplary service records are media articles and we all know that they don't always show the whole picture.
Personally, I don't think is going to have the happy ending that the DADT abolitionists think, because as I've pointed out before, DADT is the actual ban on gays. But we'll see.
DADT is federal statutory law passed by Congress. It is part of the US code. A federal judge has jurisdiction over such law as best I can tell, though I am not finding any actual legal experts commenting on it either way. However, the fact that outside of message boards, no one is questioning the jurisdiction leads me to believe that it is not a real issue.
There are some who are certainly being discharged just due to DADT, not their own performance. I have seen it personally.
However, I think that one of the big things it will do is eliminate the fear that gays could be targeted for a witch hunt and discharged just because someone in their upper chain of command is rumored to be against gays. Another big plus is that it does keep people from using the DADT loop hole just to get out of the military without really getting any punishment.
yes, I agree with that. However, a civilian judge doesn't have authority over the UCMJ and military regulations. i.e sodomy is still a crime under the UCMJ and punishable by courts martial. Also, DADT isn't the actual ban on gays serving in the miltiary. That ban was first instituted by Harry Truman and later reinforced by Reagan.
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