According to Politico, the King & Spalding law firm, which had agreed to serve as counsel to the House of Representatives in defending DOMA, is now backing out of the representation. Its about-face is a craven caving to pressure from gay-rights groups. King & Spalding chairman Robert Hays deserves special recognition as a profile in cowardice.
In response to the King & Spalding decision, superstar lawyer (and former Solicitor General) Paul D. Clement has just resigned from the firm “effective immediately.” Here are some excerpts from Clement’s resignation letter:
I take this step not because of strongly held views about the statute. My thoughts about the merits of DOMA are as irrelevant as my views about the dozens of federal statutes that I defended as Solicitor General.
Instead, I resign out of the firmly-held belief that a representation should not be abandoned because the client’s legal position is extremely unpopular in certain quarters. Defending unpopular positions is what lawyers do. The adversary system of justice depends on it, especially in cases where the passions run high. Efforts to delegitimize any representation for one side of a legal controversy are a profound threat to the rule of law.
Clement closed his letter by quoting from a great lawyer, former King & Spalding partner (and former Attorney General and former federal appellate judge) Griffin Bell: “You are not required to take every matter that is presented to you, but having assumed a representation, it becomes your duty to finish the representation.”
Clement will continue representing the House of Representatives in his new capacity with Bancroft PLLC.