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Former U.S. Navy Commander Zoe Dunning, left, looks on as President Obama signs the law to repeal "don't ask, don't tell' Dec. 22, 2010

The U.S. military must immediately stop enforcing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which bans gay men and lesbians from serving openly, a panel of judges from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ordered.

A federal judge ruled the policy unconstitutional last fall and issued an injunction stopping its enforcement. But the government appealed that decision to the 9th Circuit. The appeals court allowed the policy to resume pending its decision.

In the meantime, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed a bill repealing the ban on gays in the military. The bill will go into effect after troops are retrained and Obama, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sign off.

In their ruling Wednesday, the judges wrote that the process of repealing the policy "is well underway, and the preponderance of the armed forces are expected to have been trained by mid-summer."

Since the federal government does not argue that the ban is constitutional, the judges wrote, a court order blocking the lower court decision is longer needed.

The government's appeal is scheduled to be heard in Pasadena the week of Aug. 29, 2011