Legal News

Dems in Congress Launch Effort to Kill DOMA

By Ashby Jones

The Obama administration sent a pretty clear signal to Congress last month when it said it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act.

The message: if you repeal this law, you won’t hear any objection from us.

Perhaps as a preemptive strike against such a maneuver, House speaker John Boehner earlier this month launched an effort to defend the 1996 law, which bans the government from recognizing same-sex marriage, even if a couple has been married under state law.

Well, on Wednesday, the (some might say) inevitable happened: Democrats in both houses of Congress put forward measures to repeal the law. According to the Huffington Post, the moves acc0mpanied a messaging effort to argue that same-sex marriage strengthens the American family.

On the House side, Reps. Jerry Nadler (D., N.Y.) (pictured) and John Conyers (D., Mich.) teamed up with the four openly gay members of Congress, Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.), David Cicilline (D., R.I.), Barney Frank (D., Mass.) and Jared Polis (D., Colo.), plus more than 100 cosponsors on the legislation, which is slated for formal introduction Wednesday afternoon.

In the Senate, the DOMA repeal effort will be led by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.), Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Some 20 other co-signers have signaled their support.

Still, given that Republicans control the House, the bill faces a steep climb.

Said Boehner earlier this month after the White House’s decision not to defend the law: "It is regrettable that the Obama administration has opened this divisive issue at a time when Americans want their leaders to focus on jobs and the challenges facing our economy. The constitutionality of this law should be determined by the courts - not by the president unilaterally - and this action by the House will ensure the matter is addressed in a manner consistent with our constitution.”

Supporters of the repeal effort, however, say the tide of public support is turning in their favor. Slightly more than half of voters oppose DOMA, while only 34 percent support it, according to a poll released on Tuesday by the gay-marriage advocacy group Human Rights Campaign and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.

“The movement is clearly in our direction,” Frank said at a press conference. “Some of us were here a few years ago and Republicans … were eager to give their members a chance to vote against same-sex marriage. Today, they are eager to protect their members against same-sex marriage.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 16, 2011 (boomark / email).