"Attorney General Eric Holder has just issued a statement announcing that the Department of Justice will no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. President Obama has come under criticism from gay groups for saying he supports a repeal of DOMA, the federal policy that restricts marriage to one man and one woman signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1996, while still instructing the DOJ to defend it in court. In the two current cases against DOMA, Pedersen v. OPM and Windsor v. United States, the DOJ will now remain participatory but will not defend the constitutionality of DOMA. (Interested members of Congress still may defend it if they so choose.)"
Thanks, NY Mag, for not making that paragraph as legal as the Advocate.
Charlie Savage wrote this for the NY Times:
"WASHINGTON — President Obama, in a major legal policy shift, has directed the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act — the 1996 law that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages — against lawsuits challenging it as unconstitutional.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday saying that the Justice Department will now take the position in court that the Defense of Marriage Act should be struck down as a violation of gay couples’ rights to equal protection under the law.
“The President and I have concluded that classifications based on sexual orientation warrant heightened scrutiny and that, as applied to same-sex couples legally married under state law,” a crucial provision of the act is unconstitutional, Mr. Holder wrote."
IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME.
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