Don't Ask, Don't Tell ruled unconstitutional

That popping sound you hear is wingnut heads exploding. To other ears, though, it may sound like champagne corks. Because if you haven't already heard, yesterday a federal judge affirmed what the majority of the American people have already known for a decade – that it’s time for ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to meet the dustbin of history. U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips said the policy banning gays in the military was blatantly unconstitutional on the grounds that it violates gay military members' rights to free speech, due process and open association. So, between the Prop 8 ruling and yesterday's DADT one, it's been a good few weeks for civil rights. But of course reaction from the anti-gay forces was fast and furious. 'Outrageous. Unbelievable. Our armed forces are fighting the enemy overseas while this lunatic judge behind our own lines decides to throw a hand grenade right into our own barracks,' wrote Ridge Ministries' Robert Knight, as quoted on World Net Daily. A hand grenade? Really? I mean to say, for a robustly heterosexual fundamentalist minister, Knight can certainly qualify as a bit of a drama queen can't he? This might be the moment to remind right winger's of his ilk that here in America, the country you profess to love, we have three coequal branches of government. And a staunch defender of the constitution does not instantly become an activist judge when they make a ruling you disagree with. 'Judge Phillips has decided she is smarter than God, more than 1,163 retired generals and admirals who support the military's policy, the hundreds of congressmen and senators who voted for the law in 1993 and generations of military leaders who believed that morality affects discipline and that homosexual conduct undermines military preparedness,' fumed Knight. So let me get this straight. Conservatives are asking for a judge who, when considering the constitutionality of a law, should look beyond the constitution and consider the opinions and personal feelings of military personel and the political views of the right. Well what's that if not judicial activism?

Cahir O'Doherty

Sep 10, 2010

That popping sound you hear is wingnut heads exploding. To other ears, though, it may sound like champagne corks.

Because if you haven't already heard, yesterday a federal judge affirmed what the majority of the American people have already known for a decade – that it’s time for ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to meet the dustbin of history.

U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips said the policy banning gays in the military was blatantly unconstitutional on the grounds that it violates gay military members' rights to free speech, due process and open association.

So, between the Prop 8 ruling and yesterday's DADT one, it's been a good few weeks for civil rights. But of course reaction from the anti-gay forces was fast and furious.

'Outrageous. Unbelievable. Our armed forces are fighting the enemy overseas while this lunatic judge behind our own lines decides to throw a hand grenade right into our own barracks,' wrote Ridge Ministries' Robert Knight, as quoted on World Net Daily.

A hand grenade? Really? I mean to say, for a robustly heterosexual fundamentalist minister, Knight can certainly qualify as a bit of a drama queen can't he?

This might be the moment to remind right winger's of his ilk that here in America, the country you profess to love, we have three coequal branches of government. And a staunch defender of the constitution does not instantly become an activist judge when they make a ruling you disagree with.

'Judge Phillips has decided she is smarter than God, more than 1,163 retired generals and admirals who support the military's policy, the hundreds of congressmen and senators who voted for the law in 1993 and generations of military leaders who believed that morality affects discipline and that homosexual conduct undermines military preparedness,' fumed Knight.

So let me get this straight. Conservatives are asking for a judge who, when considering the constitutionality of a law, should look beyond the constitution and consider the opinions and personal feelings of military personel and the political views of the right.

Well what's that if not judicial activism?