WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court on Monday threw out a lawsuit challenging the legality of the US military's ban on homosexuals, in a case with so many ups and downs it will likely end up in the US Supreme Court.The federal court of appeals for the first circuit in Boston, Massachusetts, ruled that ‘special deference’ must be made to Congress in dealing with federal statutes regulating military affairs, and dismissed the case. The decision overthrew a May 21 reinstatement of the lawsuit by a San Francisco federal appeals court.
The military's ‘don't ask, don't tell’ policy tolerates homosexuals in the US military as long as they hide their sexual orientation. Some 12,000 service members have been forced to resign since the rule was adopted by Congress in 1993. Judges had regularly rejected without comment any challenges to the rule until 2006 when a decorated Air Force nurse, Major Margaret Witt, filed a lawsuit challenging the military's move to force her into early retirement because her superiors discovered her long-term relationship with a civilian woman.
Witt argued that the military's policy is an unconstitutional intrusion in her personal life. A lower court thrown out the case before the San Francisco court agreed to reinstate it.
Monday's ruling throwing the case out again said Witt's challenges ‘are all aimed at a federal statute regulating military affairs.
‘Although the wisdom behind the statute at issue here may be questioned by some, in light of the special deference we grant Congressional decision-making in this area we conclude that the challenges must be dismissed.’
Court observers said Witt's lawsuit will very likely end up in the Supreme Court in the next few months.