A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, upholding lower-court rulings that found the law, which discriminates against the marriage rights of gays and lesbians, unconstitutional. The author of the opinion, Dennis Jacobs, is a very conservative George H.W. Bush appointee. But even he had to acknowledge the nature of the case, ruling that discrimination of LGBT individuals deserves heightened scrutiny, and that therefore a federal law which discriminates against them must be treated skeptically.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument on the requirement that people have health insurance, the mandate. Transcript and audio version here. One of the issues was the constitutional limits on the powers of Congress under the Commerce Clause. Article I, § 8 gives Congress the power: “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.” In recent times, this clause has been given a broad interpretation, but there are limits.

In the latest of a series of legal advances for LGBT equality, Judge Jeffery White, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act {DOMA) is unconstitutional, in violation of the equal protection clause.

This case actually has more potential to be a binding precedent on the country in terms of marriage equality than the Prop 8 case.

Congressman John Lewis (D_GA), who knows a thing or two about the civil rights struggle firsthand, has joined 110 of his House colleagues in a brief opposing John Boehner‘s expensive legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act (DODOMA).

The Obama Administration has chosen not to defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, so NOM wants the Administration to pick up costs for Boehner’s own DOMA defense team’s expenses, including their use of anti-gay junk science.

According to The Advocate, Democratic lawmakers are now questioning Speaker of the House John Boehner about the phony, junk science arguments the GOP’s lawyer, Paul Clement, has been making in defense of DOMA.

The Speaker may have hired Paul Clement without legal or fiscal authority to do so, risking criminal charges. Spending federal funds without explicit legislative authorization or appropriation is a violation of federal law that carries a fine and a possible prison sentence.

When former Solicitor General Paul Clement’s firm, King & Spalding, was chosen by Speaker of the House John Boehner to represent the interests of those who want the Defense of Marriage Act defended in federal court, after President Obama announced his Administration would no longer defend DOMA, there was a quick (and now successful) grassroots backlash against the firm.

Today, King & Spalding announced they were withdrawing from representation of DOMA in federal court, and senior partner Paul Clement resigned from the firm.