Hope the champagne party at the White House was fun the other night. And now back to our regularly scheduled program.
From AP:
States that allow gay marriage can't force the federal government to provide benefits to those couples, the Obama administration argued Friday in court papers in a lawsuit by Massachusetts.Except they don't. But they'd like you to believe they do.
The Justice Department is at odds with Massachusetts — the first state to allow gay marriage — over a 1996 federal law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Massachusetts sued in July, saying that law is discriminatory and deprives gay couples in the state of some federal spousal benefits.
The Obama administration agrees the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, is discriminatory and wants it repealed, but says it has an obligation to defend laws enacted by Congress while they are on the books and can be reasonably defended.
Here is a former senior aide to President Clinton explaining how it actually works in the Oval Office when a president wants to oppose a law in court. And here are examples from Reagan, Bush I, Clinton and Bush II where the White House didn't defend laws it didn't agree with. So it's an outright lie for the administration to say it has an obligation to defend all laws enacted by Congress.
Not to mention, this White House has already refused to enforce laws it didn't like - on immigration and medical marijuana - so don't lecture us about how you had to side with the religious right because of your respect for the rule of law. We simply weren't important enough.
"There is, however, no fundamental right to marriage-based federal benefits," according to the 36-page filing.Thanks, that helps.
