The deadline neared as Congress moved to repeal the law that bans service in the military by open gays and lesbians. The House of Representatives voted to approve repeal on Friday and a similar measure cleared a key Senate committee on Thursday.
In the lawsuit, which is being brought by the Log Cabin Republicans, U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips, who sits in Riverside, Calif., refused on Thursday to grant the government’s motion to throw out the case, rejecting the argument that the organization lacked standing. She also concluded that the legal standard for weighing the group’s due process claims was established by a 2008 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Witt v. Dep’t of the Air Force. She allowed both sides to submit further briefing on that issue.
