The gay GOP group Log Cabin Republicans will ask a federal judge on Friday to end “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.”

Lawyers wrapping up arguments in a federal trial challenging the law in a California courtroom are expected to ask U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips to declare the law that bans gay troops from serving openly unconstitutional.

Congress is currently debating whether to repeal the law and government lawyers have argued throughout the two-week trial that lawmakers, not a judge, should decide on the fate of the policy.

President Barack Obama says he supports repeal of the Clinton-era law.

The high-profile trial has put the Obama administration in the awkward position of defending a law the president is against. Similarly, trials on the federal government's gay marriage ban, DOMA, have forced the administration to turn its back on the gay community – a core constituency of Democrats.

In defending the policy, government lawyers stuck to the policy's legislative history.

In his opening remarks, plaintiffs' lead lawyer Dan Woods said the military excludes gay troops from service “solely on the basis of status and conduct that is constitutionally protected.”

“No matter how I look at this issue,” Woods said, “I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”

Nathaniel Frank, a senior researcher at the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California, testified that Congress enacted the policy out of malice towards gay and lesbian service members. He singled out former senators Sam Nunn of Georgia and Bob Dole of Kansas as chief advocates of the policy.

Nunn, as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, denied supporters of open gay service equal access to testify before his committee on the issue, Frank testified.

“Senator Sam Nunn removed from the witness list two people when he heard that they were going to testify in favor of equality,” Frank said. Those people were Colonel Lucian Truscott III and Barry Goldwater.

Among the service members who testified at the trial was Joseph Rocha, who was discharged from the Navy in 2007 after he violated the policy. He came out to his commanding officer after suffering two years of abuse from shipmates while on duty on the island of Bahrain between 2004 and 2006.

Taunting and bullying at the hands of his chief master-at-arms Michael Toussaint began soon after Rocha declined to take a female prostitute in 2004. Rocha said he did not report the abuse because he was afraid of losing his job.

“I'm confident that, at least personally, had 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' not been the policy, I would have felt confident to report the abuse when it escalated, and not fear reprisal,” Rocha testified.

Judge Phillips is not expected to rule on the matter for weeks or longer. Some analysts believe she'll wait to see if Congress acts.