As he previously indicated, Speaker of the House John Boehner has officially announced that the House of Representatives will defend the Defense of Marriage Act.
In a statement, Boehner says: “I will convene a meeting of the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group for the purpose of initiating action by the House to defend this law of the United States, which was enacted by a bipartisan vote in Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton. It is regrettable that the Obama Administration has opened this divisive issue at a time when Americans want their leaders to focus on jobs and the challenges facing our economy. The constitutionality of this law should be determined by the courts — not by the president unilaterally — and this action by the House will ensure the matter is addressed in a manner consistent with our Constitution.”
According to the Speaker’s office, the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group is a five-member panel consisting of the Speaker of the House, Majority Leader, Majority Whip, Minority Leader, and Minority Whip. Under House rules, the advisory group has the authority to instruct the non-partisan office of the House General Counsel to take legal action on behalf of the House of Representatives.
As a young fiscal conservative, I wish Boehner and the House GOP would just let this issue lie. Defending DOMA has nothing to do with creating jobs, reducing the deficit, or curbing the massive size of government--which are the things this Congress was elected to do.
Making DOMA an issue accomplishes nothing except alienating a generation of young people like me, who agree wholeheartedly with the GOP platform on economic issues but have to hold their noses to vote with a party perceived as bigoted against gay people.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI am proud that John Boehner is my representative, and a true leader, in Congress. And that he can multi-task.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse+1 to ElenaH. Rep. Boehner and other defenders of DOMA are on the wrong side of history on this. Like the Dixiecrats of old, they are creating a blot on their records that will remain visible for a long time.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseElena, Congress should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. If the President of the United States isn't up to the job of the defending the laws of this country, then someone else has to. And if you're too intellectually bankrupt to wade through the noise of the MSM and their accusations of bigotry, then I frankly don't give a fig if you are on my side or not.
And way to cheapen real civil rights issues like slavery and racism, 180, by comparing Dixiecrats to those who oppose the re-definition of marriage. But of course that's just it, when backed into the corner to defend an untenable position, liberls must always play the race/sexism/homophobia charge. It's so much easier than, you know, thinking. Then again, when simps like Elena are so easily persuaded by such demagoguery, it does make such appeals.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse>Making DOMA an issue accomplishes nothing except alienating a generation of young people like me"
It sounds to me as if young people like you need some education about the role and responsibilities of Congress.
You also need to be able to recognize who it is that has made an issue of DOMA. That would be the Obama administration and the courts.
I'm tickled pink that young people like yourself are taking an interest in politics, but must caution you that the real world does not possess even a passing similarity to the junk you watch on TV. All those cool gay people you see on the tube? They're a figment of some writers imagination.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAt the time of its signing, I said DOMA was a bad idea; in time, some liberal would overturn it.
So those who thought otherwise, fess up, then sit down.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOh Yay! We're playing Rope-A-Dope!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLooks like I don't need the MSM to tell me the GOP has some bigoted elements, since flenser demonstrated it so cleanly below.
180 is right that the GOP is on the wrong side of history on this one. Gay marriage is going to be a reality in this country and the sooner we get on that train the better off we'll be as a party on the economic stuff that really matters.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt is the job of the President and the DOJ to uphold and enforce laws on the books of the US. So, until the law is changed the President and his DOJ are shirking their duties. This President seems to think he can pick and choose which laws to enforce.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse>"At the time of its signing, I said DOMA was a bad idea; in time, some liberal would overturn it."
Whether or not DOMA is a bad idea is one issue. Whether or not some liberal (hello, Anthony Kennedy) overturns it is a different issue. And the two issues are completely separate, regardless of your use of a semi-colon to suggest otherwise.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFinally, Congress doing something I don't find objectionable.
Getting social issues consistently wrong is why the country is in the state it is in.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseActually, ElenaH, I wouldn't even consider hanging out where NROniks go, but I am very turned off by the shockingly bigoted Democratic attitude towards males, white people, heterosexuals, persons who live a restrained lifestyle, persons born in the USA to lawful residents, and people who don't belong to a public civil service union.
If it were not for that shocking bigotry, so often demonstrated by the left, I'd be willing to hold my nose and vote for Bill Clinton. Why, I actually did that (complete with holding nose), but at the time, I wasn't aware of the full measure of shocking bigotry that has taken over the Democrats, judges, and education.
Eliminate bigotry! End hate! Outlaw the Democratic Party! My fundamental, inalienable rights deserve no less. It is why there was a War of Independence. It is why there is a Constitution. It is why there was a Civil War. It is why America helped rid the world of Nazis, at least over in Germany circa 1940s. It is the entire thrust of the Enlightenment. I have no doubt that FDR, JFK, RFK, and MLK would all agree with me, if they were here today. John Lennon, too. And, anyone who does not agree with me is clearly unable to understand my progressive views, and it would be a waste of time to discuss it with them.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseA couple of things I wonder about:
1) A number of commentators previously posted that the President has the right and duty to not enforce laws he believes are unconstitutional, and certainly has the right and duty not to defend them in court. If those commentators are correct, the Administration acted correctly in not defending the law in court.
2) The claim that "cool gay people do not exist," from one of the other posters, is so obviously false that I wonder whether said poster has actually met anyone who was gay. I have met many gay people who have been kind, compassionate, and intelligent.
Now, I also disagree with the Administration that DOMA is unconstitutional; the part allowing states to opt out of full faith and credit seems clearly unconstitutional, but the part defining marriage with respect to federal statutes seems entirely constitutional. It may be a bad law, and I think it is, but at least part of it seems constitutional nonetheless.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell, the left is again showing their true colors this month. Obama is now the arbiter of what's constitutional and what isn't, and the WI senate goes to Illinois to avoid an outcome they don't like.
Bottom line here is that these people don't care about elections, democracy, or rule of law--they care about getting what they want, which is themselves in charge of that classic Marxist utopian dream that has killed over 100 million folks world wide since they began pursuing it.
As conservatives, we have to keep these social issues in focus along w/ the fiscal issues, or we will have a balanced budget country that has no moorings, moral or otherwise. I'm sorry, but homosexuality is a genetic defect that has been treated as an abnormality since the beginning of history. Gay people should not be "shunned", but neither should they be celebrated as a victim class. DOMA is another good law that the left doesn't like--so they will try to ignore it or sabotage it, while keeping their eye on the long term prize of a totally adrogynous society that comes to them on bended knee for sustenance and guidance.
The House is right to jump into this fight--we surrender on this front at our peril.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse>"Looks like I don't need the MSM to tell me the GOP has some bigoted elements, since flenser demonstrated it so cleanly below."
Ah, the stunning mental dexterity of the leftist! In lefty speak, a "bigot" is anyone who tells the leftist what he does not want to hear.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse>"The claim that "cool gay people do not exist," from one of the other posters, is so obviously false that I wonder whether said poster has actually met anyone who was gay."
The claim that a poster here said that "cool gay people do not exist" is so obviously false that I wonder about your reading comprehension.
What "said poster" AKA me said was that the sort of people who makes up gays on television bear zero relationship to actual gay people. And I say that having met a great many people who are gay. You simply do not see any gay men on TV who have sex in the public bathroom with random strangers.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@flenser
"All those cool gay people you see on the tube? They're a figment of some writers imagination."
Huh?? So Ellen Degeneres, Neil Patrick Harris, Lily Tomlin, Anderson Cooper, Portia De Rossi, Rachel Maddow, Ricky Martin, Cat Cora, et al, are all figments of someone's imagination??
Methinks your idea of "the real world" is the one that needs tweaking.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@flenser
Maybe perhaps some of us don't just know gay people through TV (or gross stereotyping). Maybe some of us have gay friends or family who are legally married and yet receive none of the federal benefits or recognition of having done so. Since, keep in mind, that's what we're talking about here.
While gay marriage might remain a more divided issue, I don't really think committed gay couples being denied equal benefits is a popular position among anyone these days. But if Republicans want to take up that mantle, go ahead. I'd prefer them to focus on the crushing debt - what young people are actually going to be killed by in the next decades - as opposed to gays, who they have no problem with.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWe are having an argument based on a premise that we should be rejecting as conservatives.
Gay marriage is a physical impossibility when analyzed using the classic legal and spiritual definitions. Marriage is a joining of a man and a woman in a Holy union that will produce children. Two people of the same sex cannot do that without the aid of science and a leftist judiciary.
Again--we DO need to get a handle on the terrible debt that the Democrats have been piling onto us these last 2 years, but we also have to maintain a sense of who we are as a nation. I've said it before here--when you boil it down gay marriage is as imaginary as Kwanzaa. It's a figment of the imagination that lets gay people feel that their behavior is normal and lets leftists feel good about themselves via their mantle of moral superiority.
Unfortunately it has nothing to do with what marriage is and has been throughout civilization.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe sooner this gets in front of the Supreme Court the better. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is as unconstitutional as discrimination on race. Keep the government out of our private lives. JB and the R's must focus their attention on the BIG issues (jobs, jobs, JOBS!!!).
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