There is the awful Defense of Marriage Act on the books. Bill Clinton signed it into law in another era, and he now says it should be repealed.
The Obama administration announced last February that the Justice Department would no longer defend the law in cases brought against it. This was based on opinions by constitutional scholars.that parts of the law are unconstitutional. Obama himself used to teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago, and he concurs.
But John Boehner and House Republicans couldn't stand to let it go. So they hired an outside law firm to defend the law in federal courts. The original fee was to be $500,000, but now they have signed a contract with the law firm to cap costs at $1,500,000.
And guess who pays the bill? The United States citizens -- the taxpayers.
This is not responsible government. This is politics at its worst -- because as taxpayers we have no direct say in the matter. In a time where Republicans are pushing austerity and budget cuts -- schools, poverty programs, infrastructure and energy investment, etc -- they insist on throwing away precious tax money on such a fool's quest. All to please their right-wing political base.
A spokesman for Nancy Pelosi called it a boondoggle and said it was "absolutely unconscionable to defend the indefensible" DOMA.
I'm sure there will be plenty of petitions to sign opposing this move. Please sign them.
Is it possible to get a court order to stop this from happening -- at least forcing Boehner to explain what he plans to cut in order to pay for it -- just as he tried to insist on equal cuts in spending to pay for disaster relief for hurricane victims?
Ralph
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PS: A side note of interest: Back in the spring, when this first came up, Paul Clement took the case. He was a former Solicitor General in the Bush II administration, and he was then an attorney with King and Spaulding.
ReplyDeleteWhen K&S found out about the case, and they began to get protests from their own gay staff attorneys, as well as the public and gay rights organizations, they withdrew their firm from the case -- much publicized at the time.
Clement then left the firm and joined the Bancroft firm, from which he will represent Boehner and the House GOP. And be paid up to $1.5 million.