Gay Marriage Law Heads to Appeals Court in Mass.
A legal battle over a law that denies federal benefits to married gay couples is headed to a federal appeals court in Massachusetts, the first state in the nation to legalize gay marriage.
The federal Defense of Marriage Act, enacted by Congress in 1996, defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman and prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.
A federal judge in Massachusetts declared a key section of the law unconstitutional in 2010 after Attorney General Martha Coakley and the legal group Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders sued. Judge Joseph Tauro found that the law is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define marriage and denies married gay couples an array of federal benefits given to heterosexual married couples, including the ability to file joint tax returns.
An appeal by a bipartisan congressional group in both cases will be heard Wednesday by the federal appeals court in Boston.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/gay-marriage-law-heads-appeals-court-mass-16045055
= new reply since forum marked as read
As a partner at King & Spalding, Clement was hired in April 2011 by the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that federally defines marriage as between one man and one woman, after the U.S. Department of Justice decided to stop defending it.[11] King & Spalding withdrew from the case on April 25, 2011, and Clement resigned from the firm to continue his representation, arguing that "representation should not be abandoned because the client's legal position is extremely unpopular in certain quarters."[12] He joined Bancroft PLLC, a smaller law firm led by former Assistant Attorney General Viet D. Dinh.[13][14]
He is leading the challenge on behalf of 26 States to the Obama health care overhaul or Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, in the Supreme Court as of late March 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Clement
The bigot's favorite bigot lawyer.
