Robert Gibbs Warns Congress: Don’t Leave Repeal Of DADT To The Courts

Igor Volsky has the details at Wonk Room:

This afternoon, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs listed repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell as a priority for the lame duck session after the Thanksgiving recess and reiterated the now oft-repeated warning that if Congress fails to lift the ban, the matter could be decided by the courts. “Do this legislatively, which provides an avenue with which to implement the policy. A court doing this is not likely to provide the Pentagon and others with a pathway for doing this,” Gibbs explained. He also said he expects Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) to hold hearings on the Pentagon’s Working Group study of the policy — whose release has now been bumped up to November 30 — on December 1, but would not say if President Obama personally asked Gates to expedite its release.