The Law Center continued to draw attention to the federal “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy by holding a panel series supporting the policy’s repeal on Wednesday.

The event, “The Future of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” follows a memo issued by Law Center Dean William Treanor in September in which he slammed the controversial measure, which prohibits gays from serving openly in the military.

In their discussion at the Law Center’s McDonough Hall, panelists addressed the legislative, judicial and administrative measures necessary for a smooth transition into a policy that would allow gay military personnel to serve openly. DADT could be scrapped by this year’s lame-duck session of Congress, pending the December release of an internal Pentagon review of the risks associated with ending DADT.

Panelists in the first discussion session about the administrative approach included law professors Diane Mazur and Jackie Gardina, as well as Aaron Tax, legal director for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. They discussed the need for strong leadership in the event of a policy shift and debated the issue of

military control, questioning who has the power to alter military policies.

“We need to have a watchdog approach,” Gardina said, citing the possibility of future executives refusing to enforce DADT.

Gardina explained that supporters of the repeal needed to be wary of future presidents that may be less inclined to allow gays to serve in the military.

The second panel, “The Judicial Branch,” included Daniel J. Woods, who was the lead attorney for Log Cabin Republicans v. United States. Panelist Aaron H. Caplan held the same position in Witt v. Department of the Air Force, while panelist Seth Galanter was the attorney for Air Force Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, who was accused and later cleared of charges of sexually assaulting a male service member.

The Log Cabin Republicans v. United States case, filed in 2004, challenged the constitutionality of DADT. The trial began in July, and in September the District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that DADT violated the First and Fifth Amendments. In October, the District court ordered the military to stop enforcing the law – that is, to stop all discharges and hire openly gay enlistees.

The federal government appealed this ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, leading to a stay of execution on the District Court’s injunction on DADT.

“The plaintiffs asked the Supreme Court to vacate the 2-1 decision to keep the stay in place,” earlier this month, according to the panel’s press release. The Supreme Court denied the request.

The final panel, “The Legislative Path,” featured representatives from organizations that supported the repeal of DADT, including the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, the Military Equality Alliance and the Human Rights Campaign. Panelists discussed the status of the DADT repeal in Congress, as well as the Department of Defense report, due Dec. 1, on how the repeal of DADT would be implemented.

Copies of the Pentagon findings have been leaked, and these reports indicate that the Pentagon finds “only minimal and isolated incidents of risk to the current war efforts,” according to The Washington Post.

President Obama spoke about repealing the ban on LGBT service members during his campaign and inaugural presidential address in 2008, but many panelists called the president’s approach to the proposed repeal light-handed.