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July 28, 2006
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Volume 34
Issue 30

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Sunday, Jul 06, 2008

Federal judge dismissed local challenge to "don't ask, don't tell" policy

Federal judge dismissed local challenge to "don't ask, don't tell" policy
Appeal to be filed in ninth U.S. circuit court of appeals by Robert Raketty - SGN Staff Writer A federal judge dismissed a challenge by Air Force Reserve major Margaret Witt, 42, of Spokane after ruling that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a Texas sodomy law did not affect the constitutionality of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, because the policy "represents a rational response to a legitimate government concern" about unit cohesion. American Civil Liberties Union of Washington had brought the case on behalf of the highly decorated 19-year Air Force veteran. Witt had been forced out of her job as an flight nurse after the Air Force received an anonymous tip that she was in a Lesbian relationship. On Wednesday, U.S. district judge Ronald B. Leighton dismissed the case and refused to order that she be reinstated. However, the judge noted that he was "not unsympathetic to the situation in which Major Witt currently finds herself" and said she has "served her country faithfully and with distinction." A spokesperson for the ACLU, vowed to appeal the case to the ninth U.S. circuit court of appeals. Witt had been assigned to a medical evacuation squadron at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma, but was suspended without pay in late 2004 and is awaiting a hearing on her discharge, which is still pending.