Boehner Moves to Defend DOMA
The Hill reports:
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) took a step Friday toward formally defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court.
Boehner took the action a week after President Obama instructed the Department of Justice to cease its defense of DOMA from legal challenges in court. The act allows states and the federal government to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages in other states,
Boehner had promised the House would act to defend DOMA, and on Friday he said he had convened the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, a five-member panel provided for under House rules, to consider instructing the House's Office of the General Counsel to defend DOMA in court.
The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group is a panel consisting of the Speaker, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Because Republicans enjoy a 3-2 majority on the panel, they could vote to instruct the nonpartisan counsel's office to take legal action in behalf of DOMA.
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