Supreme Court Won't Hear Don't Ask, Don't Tell Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided it will not hear a challenge to the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibiting known gays from serving in the military. The decision was among a series of rulings the court handed down Monday morning.

Former Capt. James Pietrangelo II was dismissed from the Army under the policy. He sued the Pentagon, asserting that his constitutional rights had been violated. An appeals court threw the case out on the basis that Congress had approved the current regulations and that Congress should have a role in deciding military policy.

That means that for the time being, and changes to Don't Ask Don't Tell will have to come from Congress, and be approved by President Obama. With so many contentious agenda items on the table, including health care reform, energy and climate change legislation and immigration reform, a fight over gays in the military is not one that Obama has pressed for.

You can read the Court of Appeals' earlier decision on the case, Pietangelo v. Gates, on the Department of Justice's web site here and the Supreme Court's denial of certiorari here.