The Defense Department will evaluate whether it should raise the rank of the armed services’ judge advocate generals (JAGS) to three-star positions after an independent panel of experts recommended giving the top military lawyers more power and authority within the Pentagon.
Category: Firm News
Sodomy Ruling Spurs Challenges To Military’s Policy on Gays
The first aftershocks of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision striking down a Texas sodomy law have reached the U.S. military, where the ruling is sparking new court challenges to the armed forces’ ban on openly gay personnel and other rules affecting sexuality.
A gay former officer is citing the ruling, known as Lawrence v. Texas, in a lawsuit challenging his dismissal from the Army. Another soldier is invoking Lawrence to fight his court-martial conviction for a sexual offense. And the Pentagon’s own lawyers are pondering whether the case requires adjustments to military criminal law.