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发帖数: 4174 | 1 WASHINGTON -- House Democrats may not be in the majority, but they took
action on Thursday to make it clear they don't agree with the decision by
House GOP leaders to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court.
Led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Whip
Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), more than 130 Democratic lawmakers filed an amicus
brief in a lawsuit before the First Circuit Court of Appeals to rebut the
Republican defense that the federal ban on gay marriage is constitutional.
The House has been defending DOMA in court since the spring, when the Obama
administration concluded that Section 3 of the law is unconstitutional and
announced it would no longer defend it on those grounds. Section 3 prevents
the federal government from recognizing the validity of same-sex marriages.
The House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group in March voted 3-2, with Pelosi
and Hoyer voting "no," to hire private counsel to defend DOMA in court, at a
cost of $1.5 million in taxpayer money. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio),
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and House Majority Whip Kevin
McCarthy (R-Va.) were the "yes" votes.
All co-signers of the amicus brief "wish to make clear that the Bipartisan
Legal Advisory Group (“BLAG”), which has intervened in this case to defend
Section 3’s constitutionality, does not speak for a unanimous House on
this issue," reads the document. "While Speaker Boehner has the authority to
direct the defense of DOMA by virtue of the divided 3-2 vote of the BLAG,
many Members believe that Section 3 of DOMA violates the Constitution and
should be struck down."
Their 42-page brief makes the case that Republicans' legal defense of DOMA
fails on two counts: on the point that gay people have enough "political
power" to influence Congress to repeal DOMA without court intervension, and
on the point that DOMA doesn't undermine state-sanctioned gay marriages.
Other Democrats who signed the brief include House Assistant Minority Leader
James Clyburn (S.C.) and Reps. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), John Conyers (Mich.),
Barney Frank (Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (Wisc.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (
Fla.), who is also the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.
Their filing is on the consolidated case of Massachusetts v. Dept. of Health
and Human Services and Gill vs. Office of Personnel Management. The case
reached the First Circuit Court of Appeals after a federal district court
ruled that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional.
Pelosi and other sponsors of the brief "intend to participate in each of the
cases where the BLAG has intervened as each case reaches the relevant
federal court of appeals," reads a press release from Pelosi's office. |
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