A U.S. district judge in California denied the Obama administration’s request to stay her injunction against the military’s ban on openly gay service members, CNN reported Tuesday night.

Judge Virginia Phillips wrote in her order Tuesday that the administration had failed to show it would be “irrevocably harmed” by the ruling or that it would be likely to succeed on appeal.

The government’s next step is an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The administration did not give an immediate response to the order, but President Barack Obama supports a Congressional repeal of the ban.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement last month that the Justice Department’s legal filing in the case is in line with its traditional response “when acts of Congress are challenged” and does not diminish Obama’s commitment to a legislative repeal.

Phillips ruled in September that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is unconstitutional, and she ordered last week that the military immediately stop enforcing it.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said earlier Tuesday that military recruiters are being told to accept openly gay and lesbian applicants.

Jennifer Bendery contributed to this report.