Log Cabin Republicans Take "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to Supreme Court

A Republican group suing the Obama administration to end the military's "don't ask, don't tell" law asked the Supreme Court on Friday to overrule this week's decision by a federal appeals court to keep the policy in place while it considers the matter.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who received the Log Cabin Republicans' filing, asked the Justice Department for its response. Kennedy is the justice responsible for appeals from the 9th Circuit; he can either rule on the case on his own or refer it to the entire court.

On Monday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the Pentagon can keep enforcing the ban on gay men and lesbians openly serving in uniform. The appeals court is set to hear arguments on the matter at a later date.

The Obama administration has argued that a court order to suddenly end the ban without first properly training military personnel could wreak havoc on the force and disrupt the ranks.

But the Log Cabin Republicans, which advocates for gay rights, argued in its filing that the only harm the government would suffer by lifting the ban is "entirely bureaucratic, procedural and transitory in nature," and "sharply outweighed by the substantial constitutional injury that service members will sustain" by keeping the policy in place.

"It is unfortunate the Obama Justice Department has forced the Log Cabin Republicans to go to the Supreme Court," LCR Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper said in a statement. Cooper was a State Department official during George W. Bush's administration and is a captain with the U.S. Army Reserves.