Remember a few months ago how John Boehner decided to step in to keep the Defense of Marriage Act in place after the Justice Department decided it was discriminatory? Well the legal team Boehner hired to defend the law has a few interesting things to say about gays and lesbians.
A briefing submitted on Monday by Paul Clement on behalf of the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the House of Representatives notes that “gays and lesbians have achieved and continue to achieve substantial political success.” In sum, he argues that there hasn’t been enough of a history of discrimination against gays and lesbians because most were in the closet throughout so much of history.
“A spate of recent news stories only confirms the conclusion that homosexuals are far
from politically powerless,” he writes.
The court filing objected to the plaintiff’s request for summary judgement on whether DOMA was discriminatory. Boehner’s lawyer is defending the law on behalf of the United States because the Justice Department dropped its legal support for the 1996 law banning the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage.
“Any effort to redefine the institution of marriage as something other than the union of one man and one woman is a matter best left in the hands of the elected, politically accountable branches of the federal government and the citizenry through the democratic process,” Clement writes in the briefing.
Clement also takes issue with Attorney General Eric Holder asserting that there is a growing scientific consensus that sexual orientation is immutable.
“Whether a classification is ‘immutable’ is of course a legal conclusion - not a scientific one - and the Attorney General’s selective reading of scientific evidence warrants no deference from this Court,” Clement writes. “His conclusion and the Plaintiff’s argument are also both wrong.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBT rights organization, isn’t buying it. “Apparently, in their minds, because it took so long for a courageous few to begin identifying themselves as gay or lesbian - in the face of the overwhelming risk of losing employment, having custody of children torn away, being ostracized from friends and family, and even becoming a victim of hate violence or spending years in prison — there is insufficient history of discrimination to support heightened scrutiny,” HRC writes. “They go on to contend that ‘how quickly things are changing’ for gays and lesbians should also count against us.
Boehner/Clement Oppose Summ. Judgment in DOMA case
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/boehner-picks-bush-solicitor-general-paul-clement-to-defend-doma.php
http://www.scribd.com/doc/61460848/Windsor-Interrogatory-Responses-Supplemental
http://www.scribd.com/doc/61450184/Boehner-Clement-Oppose-Summ-Judgment-in-DOMA-case
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
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