WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A former Army captain who was dismissed under a federal law dealing with gays and lesbians in the military lost his appeal Monday at the U.S. Supreme Court . The U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene in the challenge to the `` do n't ask/don ' t tell '' law . James Pietrangelo and 11 other veterans had sued the government over the `` do n't ask / do n't tell '' law passed in 1993 . Pietrangelo was the only one who appealed to the high court , but the justices without comment refused to intervene . The provision forbids those in the military from openly acknowledging or revealing their homosexuality , and prevents the government from asking individual soldiers and sailors about their sexual orientation . The Obama administration had asked the high court not to take the case , and White House officials had said they would not object to homosexuals being kicked out of the armed services . During the presidential campaign last year , President Obama said he supported throwing out the federal law but has taken no specific action on the controversy . The Justice Department said in a high court filing the law was `` rationally related to the government 's legitimate interest in military discipline and cohesion . '' A federal appeals court in Boston , Massachusetts , had ruled against Pietrangelo , essentially ending his legal efforts . But a San Francisco , California-based federal appeals court ruled partially in favor of Maj. Margaret Witt , allowing her lawsuit against the Pentagon to move ahead . Those judges said the Air Force must prove the dismissal of the flight nurse would ensure troop readiness and cohesion . Justices say state judge should have recused himself In a separate ruling , the high court on Monday found a state judge acted improperly when he refused to remove himself from a 2006 civil appeal despite having received financial support during his campaign from the CEO of the key defendant . Chief Justice Brent Benjamin of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals cast the deciding vote in favor of that company . In a 5-4 ruling , the justices found that a perceived conflict of interest should have led to the judge 's recusal . `` On these extreme facts the probability of actual bias rises to an unconstitutional level , '' Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote . The issue has become a touchstone of a growing political debate over whether judicial election races -- which have become more expensive and contentious in recent years -- erode public confidence in the legal system . The West Virginia case has attracted nationwide attention and was the basis for author John Grisham 's 2008 best-seller , `` The Appeal . '' The case now goes back to the state courts , where Benjamin likely will have to pull out of a rehearing . The U.S. Supreme Court issued a narrow ruling on the specific facts of the West Virginia dispute , but the implications are likely to be felt nationwide . Thirty-nine states elect some or all of their judges . The facts of the case read like a legal thriller . Businessman Don Blankenship , chairman of A.T. Massey Coal Co. , spent $ 3 million supporting Benjamin 's 2004 run for the judicial seat -- accounting for 60 percent of the money spent in support of his campaign . Massey was involved in a decade-old business dispute with Hugh Caperton , owner of rival Harman Mining . Caperton accused Massey of unlawfully interfering with his business relations . A jury agreed , and in 2002 awarded Harman Mining $ 50 million in compensatory and punitive damages . Massey waited four years to appeal . It was during those four years that Benjamin won his state high court seat . In April 2006 , Benjamin declined to recuse himself from Massey 's appeal , which had reached his five-member court . West Virginia , like most state and federal courts , leaves to an individual judge 's discretion the decision to stay out of a case because of a potential conflict of interest .