Witt v. Department of the Air Force
| Witt v. Department of the Air Force | |
|---|---|
| Court | United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit |
| Full case name | Margaret Witt, Major, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Department of the Air Force; Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense; Michael W. Wynn, Secretary, Department of the Air Force; Mary L. Walker, Colonel, Commander, 446th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, McChord AFB, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Decided | May 21, 2008 |
| Citation | 527 F.3d 806 (9th Cir. 2008) |
| Case history | |
| Prior actions | Suit dismissed, 444 F.Supp.2d 1138 (W.D. Wash. 2006) |
| Subsequent actions | Judgement for plaintiff on remand, 739 F.Supp.2d 1308 (W.D. Wash. 2010); Settled and appeal dropped (2011) |
| Court membership | |
| Judges sitting | William C. Canby, Susan P. Graber, Ronald M. Gould |
| Case opinions | |
| 10 U.S.C. § 654, the law preventing openly homosexual people from serving in the United States military is subject to "heightened scrutiny". Western District of Washington reversed and remanded. | |
Witt v. Department of the Air Force, 527 F.3d 806 (9th Cir. 2008) is a federal lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of 10 U.S.C. § 654, the law, since repealed, that excluded openly homosexual people from serving in the United States military, commonly known as "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT). The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in 2008 that under Lawrence v. Texas DADT constitutes an "[attempt] to intrude upon the personal and private lives of homosexuals" and it is subject to "heightened scrutiny", meaning that the government "must advance an important governmental interest, the intrusion must significantly further that interest, and the intrusion must be necessary to further that interest."
The ruling made it more difficult for service members in the Ninth Circuit's jurisdiction to be expelled under DADT, requiring the government to show actual harm in the specific unit in question. The case ended in a settlement announced on May 10, 2011.