Seattle, WA – Carney Badley Spellman proudly recognizes the outstanding achievement of attorney James Lobsenz in his case, Witt v. Department of the Air Force, now the subject of a documentary which debuted at the Telluride Film Festival.
Witt vs. Air Force, produced by two-time Oscar-winning film studio Breakwater, follows this landmark case and includes interviews with Lobsenz about his process and experience representing Major Witt.
In 2005, Major Margaret Witt was discharged after 19.5 years of service in the U.S. Air Force. Witt was the highest-ranking nurse within the Air Force and was, very literally, the poster child for nurse recruitment. The reason for her discharge? A third party outed Witt as a lesbian.
James Lobsenz represented Major Witt, a Washington State native, filing suit against the U.S. Air Force in Tacoma. While the initial rulings of the case stated that Witt could not challenge the constitutionality of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the Ninth Circuit reversed the ruling and held that she could bring as an “as-applied” challenge.
The Air Force now had to prove that applying “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to Major Witt caused a “morale or discipline” problem, yet as the case was tried the Honorable Ronald Leighton ruled that not only had the Air Force fail to prove this point, but that her removal from the 446th unit harmed unit morale.
Judge Leighton concluded that, as applied to Major Witt, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was unconstitutional, and he ordered her reinstatement. Within months, Congress would repeal the policy excluding gays and lesbians from the military.
Congratulations, James!
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Carney Badley Spellman is a full-service law firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with a longstanding reputation for strategic legal counsel and unwavering client advocacy. For decades, we’ve partnered with clients across industries and sectors—ranging from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies and government entities—providing practical, results-oriented legal solutions.
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