Log Cabin Republicans v. United States

Log Cabin Republicans v. United States
Court	United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Full case name	Log Cabin Republicans, a non-profit corporation v. United States of America and Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense, in his official capacity,
Decided	September 29 2011
Citation	658 F.3d 1162 (9th Cir. 2011)
Case history
Prior history	716 F. Supp. 2d 884 (C.D. Cal. 2010)
Subsequent history	Rehearing en banc denied (Nov. 2011)
Holding
The legislative repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell rendered the case moot, and the decision of the lower court finding DADT unconstitutional is vacated.
Court membership
Judges sitting	Arthur Alarcón, Diarmuid O'Scannlain, Barry G. Silverman
Case opinions
Per curiam
Concurrence	Diarmuid O'Scannlain

Log Cabin Republicans v. United States, 658 F.3d 1162 (9th Cir. 2011)^[1] was a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of 10 U.S.C. § 654, commonly known as don't ask, don't tell (DADT), which, prior to its repeal, excluded homosexuals from openly serving in the United States military. The Log Cabin Republicans (LCR), an organization composed of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Republicans, brought the suit on behalf of LCR members who serve or served in the military and were subject to DADT.

LCR initially filed the suit, a facial challenge to the statute, in 2004. A bench trial began on July 13, 2010, before Judge Virginia A. Phillips of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The Justice Department had unsuccessfully sought to have the suit dismissed, arguing that as long as Congress had a rational basis for passing DADT in 1993, then it is constitutional. The Justice Department also asserted at trial that LCR did not have standing to challenge the law.^[2] LCR argued that DADT violates constitutional guarantees of due process and free speech.^[3]

Phillips advised the parties pre-trial that she would not apply rational basis review, the lowest level of constitutional scrutiny, to the case. Instead, in accordance with the ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Witt v. Department of the Air Force, she would apply intermediate scrutiny,^[4] meaning to be constitutional, DADT must significantly further an important governmental interest that can be advanced in no other way.^[5]

On September 9, 2010, Phillips ruled that the ban is unconstitutional. On October 12, Phillips issued an injunction banning the military from enforcing the policy.^[6] She subsequently denied the government's request for a stay of the injunction, and the government then took their request to the Ninth Circuit, which granted a stay. On November 12, the United States Supreme Court denied an application by the Log Cabin Republicans to vacate the stay. The Ninth Circuit vacated the stay on July 6, 2011, and ordered an end to enforcement of DADT. On September 29, 2011, the Ninth Circuit issued a per curiam opinion that the legislative repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" had rendered the case moot.^[1]