Wednesday, March 27, 2013

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said House Republicans have been “irresponsible” in choosing to defend the federal law that defines marriage as between a man and woman.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said House Republicans have been “irresponsible” in choosing to defend the federal law that defines marriage as between a man and woman.
“The behavior of the Republicans in the House of Representatives on this subject has been so irresponsible,” Pelosi said Wednesday after the Supreme Court heard arguments about whether to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act.

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Pundits signal SCOTUS poised to strike down DOMA

Pelosi, a long-time advocate of gay rights, attended the Supreme Court arguments Wednesday and said she feels “pretty good” that the court would strike down the law. She correctly predicted in 2012 that the high court would uphold the health care law, which she shepherded through the House.
(Also on POLITICO: DOMA on shaky ground in court)
House Republicans have said they decided to fund court efforts to defend DOMA because President Barack Obama’s Justice Department will not enforce the law.
“A law’s constitutionality is determined by the courts — not by the Department of Justice,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner. “As long as the Obama administration refuses to exercise its responsibility, we will.”
The court case comes as a growing number of red-state Senate Democrats are emerging as supporters of the rights of same-sex couples to marry. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) is the latest, telling the News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C., that “we should not tell people who they can love or who they can marry.”

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