Obama: DOMA Unconstitutional, DOJ Should Stop Defending In Court

[NJMaverick]

Heads will be exploding on the right and the left

Quote:President Obama has determined that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, and that the Department of Justice should no longer defend the measure, which severely limits the potential of states to honor or carry out same-sex marriages, the administration announced Wednesday.

"The President believes that DOMA is unconstitutional. They are no longer going to be defending the cases in the 1st and 2nd circuits," a person briefed on the decision said, according to the National Journal.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23...27134.html

[Born_A_Truman]

Quote:While the Department has previously defended DOMA against legal challenges involving legally married same-sex couples, recent lawsuits that challenge the constitutionality of DOMA Section 3 have caused the President and the Department to conduct a new examination of the defense of this provision. In particular, in November 2011, plaintiffs filed two new lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Section 3 of DOMA in jurisdictions without precedent on whether sexual-orientation classifications are subject to rational basis review or whether they must satisfy some form of heightened scrutiny. Windsor v. United States, No. 1:10-cv-8435 (S.D.N.Y.); Pedersen v. OPM, No. 3:10-cv-1750 (D. Conn.). Previously, the Administration has defended Section 3 in jurisdictions where circuit courts have already held that classifications based on sexual orientation are subject to rational basis review, and it has advanced arguments to defend DOMA Section 3 under the binding standard that has applied in those cases.

November 2011?

[RoyGBiv]

(02-23-2011 11:54 AM)Born_A_Truman Wrote:  

Quote:While the Department has previously defended DOMA against legal challenges involving legally married same-sex couples, recent lawsuits that challenge the constitutionality of DOMA Section 3 have caused the President and the Department to conduct a new examination of the defense of this provision. In particular, in November 2011, plaintiffs filed two new lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Section 3 of DOMA in jurisdictions without precedent on whether sexual-orientation classifications are subject to rational basis review or whether they must satisfy some form of heightened scrutiny. Windsor v. United States, No. 1:10-cv-8435 (S.D.N.Y.); Pedersen v. OPM, No. 3:10-cv-1750 (D. Conn.). Previously, the Administration has defended Section 3 in jurisdictions where circuit courts have already held that classifications based on sexual orientation are subject to rational basis review, and it has advanced arguments to defend DOMA Section 3 under the binding standard that has applied in those cases.

November 2011?

It's HuffPost. They don't believe in editors.

[Born_A_Truman]

Sorry, that caught my eye.

In any event, I hope DOMA gets declared unconstitutional.

[Hekate]

I'm glad he (or his spokesperson) finally came out and said this. Was the Obama Admin actually dragging its feet all this time, or was this delay a necessary part of the process? Does the "determination" actually come from the President to the DOJ, or from the DOJ to the President? I'm a bit confused as to how this is supposed to work.

I see that the DOJ addressed its letter to the Speaker of the House, i.e. Boehner. I certainly wish this had been able to be addressed to Nancy Pelosi instead -- say, back last October -- she would have heralded it, and Boehner will probably do his best to bury it. What is the House's role now?

But it is what it is, and it's a huge step in the right direction. Now, let's see some exploding heads!