The Obama Justice Department filed another defense of the Defense of Marriage Act in court this morning, but they decided not to use right-wing arguments about child-raising and marrying minors as they had done previously. They don’t like the law, but they are bound to defend it, they say:
"This Administration does not support DOMA as a matter of policy, believes that it is discriminatory, and supports its repeal," the new brief from Justice Department lawyer Scott Simpson said. "Consistent with the rule of law, however, the Department of Justice has long followed the practice of defending federal statutes as long as reasonable arguments can be made in support of their constitutionality, even if the Department disagrees with a particular statute as a policy matter, as it does here," Simpson wrote.
If Americans start to wonder what’s the point of changing Administrations, I think I would forgive them. This Obama tendency to defer to bad law, whether detention, wiretapping, or civil discrimination, is simply insider lawyer-speak:
"This longstanding and bipartisan tradition accords the respect appropriately due to a coequal branch of government and ensures that subsequent administrations will faithfully defend laws with which they may disagree on policy grounds," he added in a footnote.
Do these people even understand that they were elected on a platform of Hope-y Changiness? Do they understand what the American people expect from them? Do they not grasp the nature of their mandate, whether on health care, civil liberties, or civil rights?
The Obama Administration’s continued deference to what came before is becoming a huge character flaw.
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What a waste of resources and a load of Horesh*t at the same time.
I feel the same way about DODT. Obama could undo it with an executive order while Congress continues to take its sweet time repealing it, but the same type of talk has been spouted about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
I don’t want to say that the Obama Administration is 0-for-2009 in the change department, but they’re pretty damn close.
Teddy, please clear up my confusion, I thought that Lawyers in the Obama Justice Dept. had filed to support repealing this law which is being defended by Bush-era Gov’t Lawyers.
From HuffPo
“In court papers, the [Obama] administration said it supports repeal of the law.”
I can’t really get worked up about this. It is not the place of DOJ to inflict its judgement on congress’s actions.
heh, ain’t that the truth
That’s my feeling too … hammer Congress to repeal DOMA & DADT, an Executive Order is a double edged Sword.
They Obama’s Justice Dept actually said that?
If gays can marry, Limpy Limbaugh just won’t feel the same about his next few marriages.
Using this logic Obama would have his justice dept defend the Dred Scott decision.
Obama is gutless. Wants to be loved by everyone. True leaders don’t care about merely being popular.
Teddy, I think you may have heard wrong. It’s “Change you can Hope For — but Not Actually See”.
Or Plessy v. Ferguson with “separate but equal”.
here’s what They understand – the folks on the left who claim to care about issues like civil rights, the failed wars, the environment, actually care more about some self-imposed imperative to support Democrats, No Matter What, in almost any electoral contest.
are They wrong, finally?
there is time before Nov 2010 to get some credible 3rd party and (I) campaigns going, but even in the absence of such a thing in your area, feel free to walk away from corporatist Dems who legislate against your interests and let them go down to richly deserved defeat.
There was a constitutional ammendment between the Dred Scott decision and now (13)
Don’t forget to call the WH at 202-456-1111 to let the Administration know what you think of their abandoning the public option. I’ve heard that the phones have been jammed with people really pissed off. Keep trying. Let’s not let Obama pull one over on the American people to satisfy the insurance companies, Republicans and BlueDogs.
Be nice to have “leadership” we could believe in… for a change.
Hope that might Change?
Chope, hange-iness?
The DOJ doesn’t have to defend or enforce anything if they don’t want to. Look at what we do with immigration law in this country – simply choose to ignore it. Look at what we do is international law against war crimes – simply choose to ignore it.
Where are the prosecutions for the Bush Crime Family? These are war crimes that were committed. W A R C R I M E S ! Like what the Nazis were prosecuted for. Does that click in people’s brains? Is anyone home? Why do I get blank stares when I talk about this stuff?
“Doesn’t anyone else notice this? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”-Mugatu in Zoolander
That’s my favorite quote of all time because it describes precisely how I feel on a daily basis in this country.
Oh and for all the Obama apologists who told us “single payer is asking too much just be happy with your public option!” I laugh at thee: we won’t even get a public option now. How much more Obamafail can you take before you finally wake up? Obama himself is a Blue Dog – hell I prefer the nickname “Bush Lite” or “Bush III.”
Nothing would get me to vote republican again but looking for Third Party Candidates might be an idea. Oh wait that’s how the Republicans got back into power before.
It’s time to really consider the Democrat Nominations and get some new blood into the process.
Seeing how the Republicans are already lining up for 2012 maybe we should start putting some new names on the List.
I nominate Congressman Weiner
Any other nominations
Are you certain this can be overcome with an executive order? That would seem odd if the President could just overrule any law with an executive order.
I think its important for an administration to follow existing laws. Isn’t one of our complaints about the Bush administration that they just chose not to worry about enforcement of a lot of laws and regulations?
The worst general abuse of the Bush Administration was the concentration of power in the executive branch. This was done with, among many other things, signing statements that prepared the way for ignoring laws passed by Congress. It was egregious abuse of power. It still would be.
DOMA is a law passed by Congress. As bad a law as it is, the last thing that I want is for a President to follow the Bush lead and pick and choose which laws to enforce. It is up to Congress to fix it, not the President.
You guys are exactly the kind of people I’m talking about.
So you’re saying we have to play by the rules, but the other guys 1) don’t have to play by the rules and 2) won’t get prosecuted for not playing by the rules.
Are you really that naive? Are you really that spineless? Put down the idealism Kool-Aid for a minute and deal with reality: the competition has upped the ante and if you’re not willing to do what it takes to compete then you’re going to get shoved off the field.
Nevermind the fact that the Obama DOJ has CHOSEN to devote resources to this nonsense when there are WARCRIMES to be prosecuted and war on terror NATIONAL SECURITY issues to be dealt with. Did you guys miss that part? You know, the WARCRIMES part? Because if those aren’t prosecuted then you can kiss your precious rule of law goodbye – just ask Jonathan Turley. I’m tired of hearing this idealism nonsense in the face of imminent destruction!
By the way I always love to mention this story because it happened TWENTY YEARS AGO TO AN AMERICAN CITIZEN and people still walk around like it’s business as usual in this country:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianna_Ortiz
The policeman raped me again. Then I was lowered into a pit full of bodies— bodies of children, men, and women, some decapitated, all caked with blood. A few were still alive. I could hear them moaning. Someone was weeping. I didn’t know if it was me or somebody else. A stench of decay rose from the pit. Rats swarmed over the bodies and were dropped onto me as I hung suspended over the pit by the wrists. I passed out and when I came to I was lying on the ground beside the pit, rats all over me.
Has the abomination that is the CIA been disbanded as a result of this insanity? No. In fact the CIA just sponsored another coup of this nature for the sake of private American business just two months ago in Honduras. This is with Obama as President and his chosen director at the helm.
This is evil beyond measure and if you think we can afford to sit back and pretend like conventional reality applies at this point then you are delusional and beyond all hope of salvation.
So just because they don’t “play by the rules” we shouldn’t either?
Then what makes us ANY different than them? The fact that we don’t want to enforce a law that’s fundamentally unfair?
I seem to remember something about the road to Hell being paved with good intentions.
DOMA sucks – I’ll be the first to admit it. But it is LAW. And the President took an oath to uphold the laws.
If the Supreme Court says DOMA is bad law, then that’s a different story.
And you think the Supreme Court is going to change anything. The odds are that Judge Sotomayor will as big a surprise to the Democrats as Souter was to the Republicans. Her record shows she follows the pack and who’s the alpha male. She’s so middle of the Road and even then the Republicans couldn’t vote for her.
Our current administration is doing nothing to change any status quo. I consider myself an independent and am furious with what has taken place in the 1st 8 months. If the Administration is against DOMA or any other previous Bush policies why don’t they just stonewall actions until congress does what it should or at least make some sort of attempt to indicate what they were voted in to do?
Maybe we should have let McCain Palin win so they would be responsible for the mess. I can see Sarah right now quitting as VP because Alaska really needs her and she can’t do enough for Alaska from the White House.