Wednesday, February 23, 2011

OBAMA'S SHIFT IN POSITION REGARDING DOMA

UPDATE 2/24/11.

President Obama, in a major legal policy shift, has directed the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act — the 1996 law that bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages — against lawsuits challenging it as unconstitutional.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday saying that the Justice Department will now take the position in court that the Defense of Marriage Act should be struck down as a violation of gay couples’ rights to equal protection under the law.

“The President and I have concluded that classifications based on sexual orientation warrant heightened scrutiny and that, as applied to same-sex couples legally married under state law,” a crucial provision of the act is unconstitutional, Mr. Holder wrote.


[For the full article, see here.]

Regardless of Obama's possible motives for his shift in his position regarding DOMA, this is very good news.
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2 comments:

genevieve said...

I always thought that DOMA was bogus.

Jerry Maneker said...

Hi genevieve: If DOMA is repealed, that's only one step removed from institutionalizing same-sex marriages. And it won't be too much after that than most churches will witness and bless same-sex marriages as well. Best wishes, Jerry.