Breaking: Obama Administration To Stop Defending Defense Of Marriage Act In Court

Amazing.

"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.

The administration will formally notify Congress later today. The act sought to restrict single-sex unions.

(Added: Since I put the first post up, the linked story has been expanded. Apparently the DoJ's position only applies, at this point, to Section 3 of DOMA which deals with the definition of marriage for federal benefit and administration purposes.

It seems this decision doesn't apply to Section 2 which seeks to ensure that recognition of same sex marriages aren't forced on other states.)

Remember when Bush signing statements were grounds for impeachment or something? Now Presidents get to declare laws unconstitutional and ignore them? That's the rule? Ok, the first GOP candidate who says if elected they will not enforce any ObamaCare, Davis-Bacon or other liberal legislation gets my vote.

Just a reminder you bitter clingers who voted for Obama...he doesn't support same sex marriage (wink, wink, nudge, nudge liberals).

Hey, who is ready for a fight on the Defense of Marriage Amendment now? It's got no shot at passing but I bet it just jumped to the top of the list for a lot of folks.

Oh by the way...The US Constitution, Article II, Section III:

he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

Funny, I don't see anything about the ones he likes or doesn't like.

I think Presidents have a responsibility to determine if a bill is constitutional when they decide to sign or veto it but once it's the law, that ship has sailed.

Now some will say, well, that's not the same as defending a law in court. Except, that's long been the tradition in this country, that the executive defends the laws until the Supreme Court says no. Democracy isn't simply a set of rules, it's a series of habits and shared traditions that people elected respect. Start breaking that down and you do real damage to America.

And for the umpteenth time...If you think the framers of the Constitution or the 14th Amendment meant to protect gay rights you're going to need to provide some proof. If you think what they meant doesn't matter...you're supporting the idea of a living Constitution (which to me is a grave insult).

(I changed part of that last paragraph. It's not helpful to call people with a differing opinion "nuts".)

FWIW- My non-lawyer take down of the judicial standard that got us into this mess.

I really hate that these cases so often involves gay rights issues because I'm much more of small "l" libertarian on these things (I really don't care who people sleep with or fall in love with). I just really hate the way the judicial system can be warped to achieve ends the Constitution simply doesn't allow.

posted by DrewM. at 12:16 PM

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