Deadline for DOJ Response to DADT

As the Thursday deadline loomed for the Department of Justice to respond to a proposed injunction against the enforcement of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, The Advocate'sKerry Eleveld discussed the likely strategy of the Obama administration with Rachel Maddow.

Last week the Log Cabin Republicans filed a request against the nationwide enforcement of the policy with U.S. district judge Virginia A. Phillips, who found "don't ask, don't tell" to be unconstitutional in a ruling September 9. The Department of Justice must submit an order to Judge Phillips in response to Log Cabin by Thursday.

"What they'll likely do, a betting person might think, is decide or ask her to limit the injunction, number 1, so that it would only be limited to the plaintiffs in the case, and not everyone, and might only be limited to the certain locales where they're from and not everyone," said Eleveld.

According to Eleveld, the Obama administration wants to buy time in order to avoid making a decision before the midterm election.

"On top of that, they'll probably ask her to stay the injunction so they can buy some time," she said. "They actually have -- my understanding is -- 60 days from the time that she signs that order to decide whether or not to appeal. So you're going to have parallel tracks, there's going to be this last-ditch effort on the political side to maybe get through the legislative repeal, which is really on its last leg. I mean, it's total life support at this point, and then on the judicial side, of course, you'll have this thing sort of moving through and the Justice Department deciding, based on what her actual order is, they'll take their 60 days and probably push it back to the very end that they can and decide whether or not to actually appeal."