THIS IS COMPLETELY ASININE – AT 10:44 A.M. ET:  No matter how you feel about the "don't ask, don't tell" issue in the American military, the Pentagon is working to do away with the practice, now that Congress has outlawed it.  And yet, that is apparently not enough for America's wackiest appeals court:

SANFRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court has denied the government’s request to suspend a lawsuit challenging the military’s ban on openly gay service members.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco issued an order Friday requiring the Department of Justice to file papers by Feb. 25 arguing why the court should overturn a Southern California trial judge who declared the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy unconstitutional.

Government lawyers asked the 9th Circuit earlier this month to set aside the case because the Pentagon is moving quickly to satisfy the steps Congress outlined last month when it voted to allow the ban’s repeal.

The appeals court did not explain in its order why it rejected the request.

This is judicial overreach, and, naturally, the court doing the overreaching is in San Francisco, home of Nancy Pelosi. 

Traditionally, courts have been reluctant to involve themselves in matters concerning the governance of the U.S. military.  But the ninth circuit is the most liberal circuit, and has the warm, fuzzy feel of West Coast liberalism.  It seems determined to mess things up as badly as possible, even as the Pentagon proceeds responsibly.

January 30, 2011