Tag: DOMA
Justice Department ratchets up gay rights defense with anti-DOMA Golinski brief
The battle between the Obama Administration and House Republicans over the Defense of Marriage Act (which has come to include GOP state attorneys general like Colorado's John Suthers) took an historic turn last week. Responding to a filing brought by lawyers on behalf of House Republicans and led by conservative legal eagle Paul Clement, the Department of Justice clearly sought to bury a stake deep into the heart of the the act, delivering an expansive brief outlining for the first time the federal government's role in singling out gay and lesbian Americans for discrimination (pdf). Chris Geidner, writing legal analysis at MetroWeekly's progay PoliGlot blog, called the brief a "must read" and "instantly historic" and "the single-most persuasive legal argument ever advanced by the United States government in support of equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people."
Top-flight firm King & Spalding pulls out of deal with GOP...
Under pressure from gay rights groups, Atlanta-based international law firm King & Spaulding announced it was pulling out of a deal struck with Republican leaders to defend the Defense of Marriage Act on behalf of the House of Representatives. Paul Clement, the high-powered attorney who spearheaded the arrangement for the firm, has resigned and announced he will now take up the case as a member of conservative-politics-associated firm Bancroft PLLC.
Focus on the Family celebrates Boehner plan to shell out $500K...
Speaker of the House John Boehner has contracted high-profile conservative attorney Paul Clement to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) on behalf of House of Representatives. Boehner has agreed to pay Clement initially up to $500,000 to defend the law, although analysts say that figure is sure to rise. Colorado Springs Christian right organization Focus on the Family celebrated the arrangement, touting Clement's resume as one of the nation's top attorneys.
Taking a beating on budget compromise, Boehner turns up heat on...
Conservative celebrity Sarah Palin and right-wing blogger Erick Erickson are just two of the high profile far-right leaders disparaging Speaker of the House John Boehner for the budget deal he hammered out with President Obama and Democratic Senate leaders last week. Colorado "liberty movement" talk radio hosts are unhappy. Colorado Tea Party freshmen Congressmen Scott Tipton and Cory Gardner as well as Colorado Springs conservative Doug Lamborn broke with the Speaker and voted against the budget. But Boehner can't go back on the deal and he won't likely win over the Tiptons and Palins and Ericksons with a lecture on the delayed gratification of budget cutting and the difference between outlays and spending. On the contrary, it would just make him seem more establishment. So instead, Boehner followed the lead of GOP presidential hopefuls and took a provocative and distracting stand against gay rights.
AZ Rep. Franks prepares secretive hearing on Defense of Marriage Act
The U.S. House Subcommittee on the Constitution is scheduled to hold a hearing Friday titled “Defending Marriage,” called by subcommittee chairman Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), who has recently called for the impeachment of President Barack Obama because of his decision to order his administration to no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Married gay couples to IRS: Sorry, no more lies
Legally married gay couples this month will be filing joint tax returns to the IRS, pressing the federal government to again acknowledge that, by failing to recognize gay marriage, it routinely asks U.S. citizens to lie on their tax forms. “More people are refusing to lie on those forms even though the government is telling them to,” said Nadine Smith, director of gay rights group Equality Florida. Smith is gay and married and she says that she and her partner will not lie on their tax form this year. “It would be both dishonest and deeply humiliating to now disavow each other or our marriage and declare ourselves single,” she said.
Immigration authorities to continue denying same-sex couple’s green cards under DHS...
Speculation that the the Obama administration’s February announcement that it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court would change how same-sex married couple’s applications for green cards and visa applications are reviewed — making the process no different from heterosexual married couples — ended Wednesday.
Troy Ard, College Republicans Chair, throws support behind Colorado civil unions...
Openly gay Chairman of the Colorado Federation of College Republicans Troy Ard is lobbying colleagues and friends to support Senator Pat Steadman's same-sex civil unions bill making its way through the state legislature. Ard's support for the bill is personal, political and ideological. He wants to enjoy equal rights under the law as a gay American; he believes the Republican brand would benefit enormously by embracing gay rights; and he believes Americans should always be pushing their government to expand individual liberties.
VIDEO: Polis co-sponsors bill that would repeal Defense of Marriage Act
Colorado Congressman Jared Polis joined with more than a hundred members of Congress to re-introduce the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would repeal the ban on same-sex marriage put in place by the federal Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. Polis urged members of Congress to support New York Rep. Jarred Nadler's legislation as a matter of fairness and states' rights.
Ralph Reed: All GOP presidential candidates oppose gay marriage
A slew of potential Republican presidential candidates told social conservatives in Iowa this week they believed President Barack Obama was wrong to order his administration not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act at an event hosted by the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition.