FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010
KLMNO
EZ SU POLITICS & THE NATION CONSTITUTIONAL
Injunction on ‘don’t ask’ policy could be appealed BY PHILWILLON
riverside, calif. — A federal judge declared the U.S. military’s ban on openly gay service mem- bers unconstitutional Thursday, saying the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy violates the First Amend- ment rights of gaypeople. U.S. District Judge Virginia A.
Phillips said the policy banning gays did not preserve military
Judge rules againstmilitary gay ban SAYS IT’S NOT
readiness, contrary to whatmany supporters have argued. In fact, she said, the evidence showedthat thepolicyhada“directanddelete- rious effect” onthemilitary. Phillips said shewould issue an
injunction barring the govern- ment from enforcing the policy. But the Justice Department, which defended “don’t ask, don’t tell” during a two-week trial here, willhave anopportunity toappeal thatdecision. Government lawyers had ar-
gued that Phillips lacked the au- thority to issue a nationwide in- junctionand that the issue should bedecidedbyCongress. The case was brought in 2004
by the Log Cabin Republicans, a 19,000-member group that in- cludes current and former mili- tarymembers.Thegroupsaidthat
more than 13,500 service mem- bers have been fired under the policy since 1994. “As an American, a veteran and
an Army Reserve officer, I am proud the court ruled that the arcane‘don’task,don’t tell’ statute violates the Constitution,” said R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans & Liberty Education Fund. “Today, the ruling is not just awin for Log Cabin Republican service mem- bers but all American service members.” Six military officers who were
dischargedtestifiedduringthetri- al. A decorated Air Force officer testifiedthathewas letgoafterhis peers snooped through his per- sonal e-mail inIraq. Therulingisexpectedtointensi- fypoliticalpressureinWashington
toactonlegislationtorepeal “don’t ask,don’t tell” that remains stalled intheSenate,despitesupport from President Obama and the Demo- cratic congressional leadership. Obama has called the ban a
threat tonational security,andthe U.S. House inMay passed legisla- tiontorepeal “don’task,don’t tell” if an ongoing Pentagon study de- termines themilitary canadapt to the change without harming de- fense readiness. Despite Obama’s criticism of
thepolicy, the JusticeDepartment vigorously defended “don’t ask, don’t tell” andeventriedtounder- cut the case with a technical legal challenge over whether the named plaintiffs were dues-pay- ing members of the organization that filedthe lawsuit. —LosAngelesTimes
$9.3million in overdue taxes on CapitolHill
IRS information indicates uptick in worker debt
BY T.W. FARNAM Capitol Hill employees owed
$9.3 million in overdue taxes at the end of last year, a sliver of the $1billionowedby federalworkers nationwidebutonewithpotential political ramifications for mem- bers ofCongress. ThedebtamongHill employees
has risen at a faster rate than the overall tax debt on the govern- ment’s books, according to Inter- nalRevenueServicedata. Itcomes at a time when some Republican members are pushing for the fir- ings of government workers who owe the IRS andPresidentObama has urged a crackdown on delin- quent government contractors. The IRS information does not
identify delinquent taxpayers by name, party affiliation or job title and does not indicate whether members of Congress are among the scofflaws. It shows that 638 employees, or about 4 percent, of the 18,000Hillworkers owemon- ey, a slightly higher percentage than the 3 percent delinquency rate among all returns filed na- tionwide. The average unpaid tax bill is
$12,787 among the Senate’s delin- quent taxpayers and $15,498 among those working in the House. “It’skindof embarrassing if you
help make the laws but you don’t obeythelaws,” saidSen.CharlesE. Grassley (Iowa), the ranking Re- publican on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdic- tionover taxmatters. IRS debt among government
workers has surfaced repeatedly as a political issue over the years, most recently when Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced leg- islation this year to fire federal workers who owe back taxes un- less they have entered into a pay- ment plan. Eight Republicans co- sponsored the bill. No Democrats have signed on, and some have said firingswould reduce the gov- ernment’sprospectsofbeingpaid. “If you’re on the federal payroll
and you’re not paying your taxes, you should be fired,” Chaffetz said in an interview.He said the policy shouldapply across theboardand “there should be no special ex- emptions.” An agency-by-agency break-
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down of IRS debt is not published but is available in a redacted form from the agency upon request. Alongwith the CapitolHill totals, it shows that three employees at the Office of Government Ethics owed a combined $75,000.And 41 employees at the Executive Office of the President owed $831,000 altogether — about the same amount as during the last year of GeorgeW.Bush’s administration. Some tax experts andwatchdog
groups say that Capitol Hill em- ployees have an added obligation to settle IRSdebts. “Congress and their staff—be-
cause they are the people who write the tax laws and because theywork for the public—have to be held to a higher standard,” Steve Ellis, vice president of the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, saidwhen told of the IRSnumbers. “These are hard times, but they
are on the government payroll,” saidMortimerCaplin,anIRScom- missioner for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson andafoundingpartnerof theCap- lin&Drysdale lawfirm. “The idea
Federal taxes owed by congressional staff
in millions $8.9 9.0 8.9 6.8 9.3 8.3
sign of economic pressures on American families, but they also may represent bad individual money management or skewed spendingpriorities. On CapitolHill, recent increas-
es in delinquencies also may re- flect the unusual nature of the workforce, which turns over dra- matically when a new political party comes intopower. From 2004 through 2006, the
’04 786 784691 Number of people who
’05 ’06 SOURCE: IRS ’07’08 ’09
owed taxes each fiscal year 643678 638
THE WASHINGTON POST
of paying taxes is kind of funda- mental to a sounddemocracy, and they certainly have a special obli- gationinthat regard.” Nationwide,debt to the IRShas
been rising steadily, even before the current economic downturn, with $103.2 billion owed at the end of last year. Tax experts say that delinquencies are another
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last three years that Republicans were inpower, the total amount of back taxes owed each year by con- gressional workers hovered just below $9million. But in 2007, when Democrats took control of both houses, it dropped to $6.8million. Since then, it has in- creasedby 37 percent. Jock Friedly, who publicizes
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TEXAS Linda Longshore carries some of the belongings that she had tried to salvage from flooding back to her apartment in Arlington. Some of the most intense flooding in the state from the remnants of Tropical StormHermine occurred in the Dallas suburb.
CALIFORNIA
Appeals panel strikes down tattooing ban Tattoosandthe art of tattooing
are “forms of pure expression fully protected by the First Amendment,” a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. A three-judge panel of theU.S.
Court of Appeals for the 9th Cir- cuit ordered the city of Hermosa Beach, Calif., to allow tattooing in at leastsomeof its areas zoned for business, saying a total ban was “facially unconstitutional.” The city was sued by Johnny
Anderson, co-owner of Yer Cheat’n Heart Tattoo in Gardena, Calif. Anderson had been trying to open a parlor in Hermosa Beach since 2006 but was repeat- edly rebuffed by city officials who refused to allow the practice on grounds that tattooing can lead to infection or disease if not done properly. Tattooing “is a process like
writing words down or drawing a picture except that it is per- formed on a person’s skin,” the appeals panel said in overturning a lower court ruling that the subcutaneously inked images werenot sufficiently expressive to deserve protection.
“Aform of speech does not lose
First Amendment protection based on the kind of surface it is applied to,” the panel stated. —Los Angeles Times
PENNSYLVANIA
Laura Bush raising money for 9/11 effort Former first lady Laura Bush
will speak Friday at a National Park Foundation fundraiser in Pittsburgh, part of a wider effort to raise money for a memorial to the 40 passengers and crewmem- bers of Flight 93 who rose up against their hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The flight crashed near Shanksville, Pa., and Bush will join first lady Michelle Obama there Saturday, on the ninth anni- versary of the attacks. About $40 million of the $58
million needed for the the Flight 93 memorial has been raised. A memorial plaza is under
construction, part of a 2,200-acre national park that will eventually honor the victims. The memorial will include a 93-foot tower at the entrance with wind chimes for each of the victims and a grove of trees.
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