Obama Administration's DOMA Defense UnacceptablePaul Hogarthbyline‚ Jun. 15‚ 2009When Barack Obama ran for President, he pledged to fully repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – a mean-spirited piece of legislation that Bill Clinton signed in 1996 for crass political reasons. Obama says it’s still his intent to do so, but has yet to follow up with any action. Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department filed a brief late last week defending a constitutional challenge to DOMA. The brief did not merely argue against the lawsuit on technical grounds such as the plaintiffs’ lack of standing, but advanced legal arguments that – if pursued by the courts – could greatly damage gay and lesbian rights. Most lawyers at the Justice Department who write these briefs are civil servants who cannot be replaced by a new President, and one of the authors was in fact a right-wing holdover from the Bush years. But Tony West, an Obama appointee and the brother-in-law of San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, allowed it to be filed in court – and his name appears on the front page. As Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, West may argue that he’s “just doing his job” – i.e., defending existing federal law. But the Administration can use discretion in these lawsuits, making this unacceptable. |