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Administration will no longer defend DOMA
Feb. 24th, 2011 07:13 amThe Obama Administration has decided that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and will not defend it in court proceedings.*
This is marvelous news - DOMA is being challenged in several jurisdictions, and without the Department of Justice defending it, it will almost certainly be struck down as unconstitutional. Even better, Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-California), who worked on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors with Harvey Milk, has introduced a full repeal in the Senate.
In short, DOMA is going down. I'm pleased with this not only because the law is discriminatory against legally married same-sex couples from Massachusetts, Vermont, the District of Columbia, Iowa, etc., but because it's frankly ridiculous. Two men or two women getting married doesn't influence my life in the slightest, and my own marriage didn't end because of civil unions in Vermont or equal marriage in Massachusetts. If anything, marriage has been stronger here in Massachusetts over the past seven years, since we now have the lowest divorce rate in the country.
"The arc of history is long, but it is inclined toward justice."
*A talking point from DOMA supporters that has seemingly appeared overnight claims that the President has no right directing the Attorney General not to defend DOMA because this will somehow violate the Constitutional separation of powers, as the DOJ is part of the judiciary and thus not under the President's control. This is false. The Justice Department is part of the executive branch of government, which is headed by the President, and always has been. That's why Attorney General Holder is part of the Cabinet, for God's sake. Are people truly that ignorant of basic civics?
This is marvelous news - DOMA is being challenged in several jurisdictions, and without the Department of Justice defending it, it will almost certainly be struck down as unconstitutional. Even better, Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-California), who worked on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors with Harvey Milk, has introduced a full repeal in the Senate.
In short, DOMA is going down. I'm pleased with this not only because the law is discriminatory against legally married same-sex couples from Massachusetts, Vermont, the District of Columbia, Iowa, etc., but because it's frankly ridiculous. Two men or two women getting married doesn't influence my life in the slightest, and my own marriage didn't end because of civil unions in Vermont or equal marriage in Massachusetts. If anything, marriage has been stronger here in Massachusetts over the past seven years, since we now have the lowest divorce rate in the country.
"The arc of history is long, but it is inclined toward justice."
*A talking point from DOMA supporters that has seemingly appeared overnight claims that the President has no right directing the Attorney General not to defend DOMA because this will somehow violate the Constitutional separation of powers, as the DOJ is part of the judiciary and thus not under the President's control. This is false. The Justice Department is part of the executive branch of government, which is headed by the President, and always has been. That's why Attorney General Holder is part of the Cabinet, for God's sake. Are people truly that ignorant of basic civics?
