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cali

(114,904 posts) Sat Mar 2, 2013, 01:28 PM Mar 2013

212 congressional Dems call on court to overturn DOMA

An unprecedented coalition of 212 House and Senate Democrats have joined together in calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act.

In a 35-page brief filed on Friday, congressional Democrats argue DOMA should be struck down because the law should be subject to heightened scrutiny and the law singles out gay and lesbian couples for harm. The case challenging the statute is Windsor v. United States.

“DOMA imposes a sweeping and unjustifiable federal disability on married same-sex couples,” the brief concludes. “It is ‘class legislation’ that lacks any rational connection to legitimate federal interests, thus violating the Fifth Amendment’s equal-protection guarantee.”

While House Democrats have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in cases challenging DOMA at lower appellate courts, the latest brief is unprecedented because for the first time Senate Democrats have signed on as well. The 172 House Democrats who signed the brief were joined by 40 Senate Democrats.

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http://www.washingtonblade.com/2013/03/01/212-congressional-dems-call-on-court-to-overturn-doma/

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212 congressional Dems call on court to overturn DOMA (Original Post) cali Mar 2013 OP

And there is Steven Lynch, who claims he was not asked to sign to help Markey. Mass Mar 2013 #1

Mass

(27,315 posts)

1. And there is Steven Lynch, who claims he was not asked to sign to help Markey.

Reply to cali (Original post)

Sat Mar 2, 2013, 04:57 PM

Mar 2013

http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/03/01/lynch-only-mass-congressman-not-sign-letter-asking-supreme-court-overturn-doma-blames-email-glitch/EhES95WVq10VSpOUAT1N5N/story.html

Lynch doesn’t sign DOMA brief, blames e-mail glitch

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When every member of the state’s congressional delegation except Representative Stephen F. Lynch signed onto a brief Friday asking the US Supreme Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, it seemed like a case of the South Boston Democrat being a bit more conservative than his liberal Massachusetts colleagues.

But then his congressional office said it was a matter of unreceived e-mail, not a political decision by Lynch to stay on the sidelines, calling him an unwavering defender of gay rights. His Senate campaign went a step further, suggesting that Lynch — who lacks the national Democratic backing of his special election opponent, Representative Edward J. Markey — might be the victim of a deliberate exclusion.

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