The decision followed a 3-2 party-line vote of the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group to take up the defense of the law after Obama's Department of Justice declined to defend it when constitutional legal scholars advised them that parts of it were unconstitutional.
Get the picture? Legal opinion: it's unconstitutional; don't defend it; let the courts overturn it.
Also get this picture: Conservative are losing the battle over gay marriage (5 states plus DC allow it, DADT is dead, now DOMA is dead). Republicans need another way to pander to their anti-gay constituents, to keep the anti-gay meme alive.
So, despite public opinion that now supports gay marriage, and despite legal opinion that DOMA is unconstitutional, they will throw away half-a-mill that could go to reduce the deficit they're so determined to reduce.
But now, comes a new wrinkle.
King & Spaulding is withdrawing from the case,
. . . and Paul Clement has resigned from the law firm. The firm says they determined that the case had not been sufficiently vetted before they agreed to take it. Clement says he is resigning because he firmly believes that legal representation should not be withdrawn because of the unpopularity of the client's cause, and he will defend the case as a member of another law firm he is joining.
It's true that K & S might have suffered some loss of business because of this -- but this is a huge, highly respected law firm. They can weather protest over an unpopular case. My guess is that they looked further into the constitutionality and decided that there was no good defense to be made.
Taking an unpopular side in a case is one thing; mounting a stupid defense is another.
Ralph
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