One of the more sordid moments in recent congressional history came during last December's lame-duck session. Democratic majorities on both sides of Capitol Hill rammed through a controversial repeal of the 1993 statute (wrongly described as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell") which prohibited avowed homosexuals from serving in the armed forces.
The Senate and House leadership did so with scarcely any hearings and extremely limited opportunity for debate. This action amounted to a raw abuse of power, a last gasp by an Obama administration able and determined to appease gay activists - a key political constituency - before the setbacks of November's elections made doing so vastly more difficult.
