Will Obama Appeal Court Ruling on DOMA?

On July 8 the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was ruled unconstitutional in two separate cases by U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro. Today is the deadline for Obama's Justice Department to file appeals in the cases. The president has said repeatedly that he favors repeal of DOMA, but the administration has persisted in defending the Clinton-era law in court.

In Gill vs. The Office of Personnel Management, Judge Tauro ruled that section 3 of DOMA, which defines "marriage" as a legal union of one man and one woman and "spouse" as someone of the opposite sex, violated the U.S. Constitution. In his summary judgment, Tauro wrote,

"As irrational prejudice plainly never constitutes a legitimate government interest, this court must hold that Section 3 of DOMA as applied to Plaintiffs violates the equal protection principles embodied in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution."

Tauro reached the same conclusion in the case of Massachusetts vs. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

The Washington Blade reports:

Richard Socarides, a gay New York attorney and former adviser to President Clinton, said he expects the Justice Department to appeal the cases because he believes the administration hasn’t shown any signs of changing its position after defending DOMA at the district court level.

“I think that they’re going to continue to battle the gay rights movement in the courts,” Socarides said. “I think it continues to be one of the most unfortunate decisions of the president’s entire first two years in office and really something that is perhaps the most troubling part of these first two years of his presidency.”

Socarides said he doesn’t think the administration is compelled to appeal the decisions to the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals even as he acknowledged that debate has taken place over whether the president can decide against upholding a federal statute.

“I think that it’s clear now that the president has the option of declining to defend laws that he believes are not constitutional,” Socarides said. “This law has now been declared unconstitutional, so he could agree with the federal district court … and choose not to defend it.”

Given that this president has proven that he is not the fierce advocate of LGBT equality that he claimed to be in order to get our votes, it is likely that the DOJ will file it's appeal in both cases today. 

Related articles

• DOMA and Massachusetts Officially Divorce (towleroad.com)
• Why Did the Gays Who Beat Down DOMA Agree With DoJ to Stay the Judge's Ruling? (queerty.com)
• Richard Socarides Blasts Obama's 'Missed Opportunity' to Support Gay Marriage. What About Yours, Richard? (queerty.com)
• Texas Representative Wants To Take Over Defending DOMA In Court From Obama DoJ (lezgetreal.com)

Log Cabin's DADT Law Suit Starts Today

The Advocate reports that a long-pending lawsuit launched by the Log Cabin Republicans challenging the constitutionality of Don't Ask, Don't Tell will finally begin today in a southern California federal court.

Log Cabin Republicans will argue in the nonjury trial before U.S. district judge Victoria A. Phillips that the 1993 law barring gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military violates constitutional protections of due process and free speech.

Though President Barack Obama has publicly stated both his opposition to the law and his support for its repeal, the Justice Department is defending the policy in court after previous failed attempts to dismiss the suit.

“Though times may have blinded the Congress that enacted DADT to this truth, all available evidence, both at the time of enactment and since, shows that DADT is a law that serves only to oppress,” attorney Dan Woods, who represents the national gay Republican organization, wrote in a pretrial memorandum.

Log Cabin also contends that its standing to sue the government, one now at the center of a heated legislative repeal effort on Capitol Hill, rests on its members who are current, retired, or former members of the armed services. Attorneys identify two specific service members adversely affected by the policy: Lt. Colonel “John Doe,” who recently completed a tour of duty in Iraq, remains in the military and thus has been granted anonymity in legal proceedings; and J. Alexander Nicholson, the executive director of Servicemembers United, who was discharged from the Army in 2002.

Log Cabin spokesman Charles Moran said a federal judge in Los Angeles originally assigned to the case in 2004 had retired and that the suit was then reassigned to Judge Phillips in Riverside, Calif.

"It would be preferable for 'don't ask, don't tell’ to be repealed legislatively, but while there is legislation moving through now, President Obama has said he would veto the defense authorization bill if it contains too much pork, which will basically sink what our community is trying to do," Moran said.

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• Log Cabin Republicans Challenge DADT (huffingtonpost.com)
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What if you had a hate-fest and nobody came?

In a follow-up to yesterday's post, as I predicted, the planned anti-gay protest in front of the Justice Department, which promised us acts of civil disobedience, masses of Christians swarming the streets of DC in numbers not seen since Exodus, was a bust. The friendly folks at the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission (CADC) held a press conference instead, but the apparently press didn't get the memo either, that is accept for the folks at Pro-Life News. Go figure.

There was no mainstream press coverage of the non-event at all, not even the folks at Faux News showed up and this should have been like chum in the water for them.

It was hard to find any online coverage of the defenders of free hate-speech, accept for the Christianist's favorite new target, Courage Award winning blogger, Joe Jervis at Joe.My.God. Joe posted the Pro Life News videos of the unevent. You can see them on his site. I won't waste the server space. 

In the video, wing-nut/propagandist/author Janet Porter gave a rambling speech about how Christians are already being jailed for expressing their message of hope to homos in Europe and Canada. What she left out, was that European countries, who barely survived the Nazi War Machine during World War II, have very strict hate crimes laws because they know first hand where bigotry and intolerance and lead. Unlike the U.S., when Europeans say "never again", they mean it.

It's interesting to note that there were more pro-gay protesters in the video than anti-gay. You can see them right over Porter's shoulder. I'm glad they were able to fight their way through the crowd.

So why the low turnout? Maybe its because it was held on a Monday, when most Americans have something better to do, like go to work. Maybe it's because the CADC folks were hoping to push the limits of free speech and get arrested. Or maybe it's because, like most bullies, homophobes can't walk the walk.

It's easy to carry a protest sign with anti-gay rhetoric, or yell "Faggot!" at someone's house as you drive by (as has happened here), but when you start talking about going to jail for your principles, that's when the bigots loose their enthusiasm. They lack the courage of their convictions that has been the hallmark of every civil rights movement. That's why we will win.