Free Republic

Is it now so politically incorrect to oppose gay marriage that a white shoe law firm will throw over a client rather than defend a law signed by President Bill Clinton? Apparently so, after yesterday's show of invertebrate representation by King and Spalding, the giant Atlanta-based law firm. King and Spalding dropped the House of Representatives as a client yesterday only days after agreeing to argue for the House in defending the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, or Doma. The jilting prompted the firm's lead attorney in the case, former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, to resign...

Former CIA Director Gina Haspel joined law firm King and Spalding. Her bio says: ... Haspel was in the UK during the beginnings of the Russiagate scandal against the candidate and then President Trump. President Trump did all he could to undo the corruption within the CIA: Haspel joins Rod Rosenstein who famously took over the DOJ under Jeff Sessions and ran the corrupt and criminal Russia collusion sham. Rosenstein signed a second scope memo to keep the investigation going even though there was no evidence to do so. This was all an illegal effort to remove President Trump from...

Gay rights activist Edith Windsor, whose same-sex marriage fight led to a landmark US ruling, has died aged 88. Her death was confirmed to the New York Times by her wife Judith Kasen-Windsor. Ms Windsor's Supreme Court case struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, granting same-sex married couples federal recognition for the first time. She had sued the US government after being ordered to pay $363,053 (£224,940) in federal estate tax after her previous wife died. The couple had been partners for 44 years and had married in Canada in 2007. Ms Windsor argued that the provision...

In what has been described as a new front in the battle over same-sex marriage, legislators in several states under judicial orders to confer marital status on same-sex couples have introduced bills to forbid state or local officials from issuing marriage licenses to couples of the same gender. The bills would also strip the salaries of employees who issued the licenses, the New York Times reported Thursday.The bills have been introduced in the legislatures of Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas, with South Carolina also considering a bill that would allow officials to opt out of issuing such licenses if it...

A federal judge has blocked a Michigan law barring domestic partner benefits for public school and local government employees, citing the Supreme Court ruling that struck down portions of the Defense of Marriage Act. U.S. District Judge David Lawson’s June 28 ruling said it can “never be a legitimate purpose” to deny health benefits to the same-sex partners of public employees. He said the plaintiffs who lost benefits or had to pay for more expensive private health insurance have a “plausible claim” that the law violates the U.S. Constitution. The 2011 law ended same-sex partner benefits for a few school...

The death certificate read “single,” even though the fallen soldier was married. When it came time to inform the next of kin, casualty officers did not go to the widow’s door in North Carolina, nor did she receive the flag that draped the casket of her beloved, a 29-year-old National Guard member killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. Because federal law defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, the military did not recognize the relationship of Army Sgt. Donna R. Johnson and Tracy Dice Johnson at all, rendering Johnson ineligible for the most basic survivor...

This time I should’ve been the one listening. But listening can be tough sometimes when you’re an analyst and a commentator, and people around the country – listeners, readers, media, candidates, causes, businesses, etc. – come to you to find out why things are happening and what may happen next. Analysis and commentary is one of the few things in life I’m really good at. My car expertise begins and ends with changing a tire. Any toy that comes with the phrase “some assembly required” my kids immediately take to my wife. And when that much-anticipated Zombie apocalypse finally happens...

STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, May 9, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – WWE wrestling superstar C.M. Punk strikes an aggressive pose inside the ring, but it seems he saved his hardest blows for supporters of the traditional family. On Monday, the grappler told his Twitter followers he opposed North Carolina’s constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, which passed in a landslide on Tuesday. One of his followers responded, “Man was meant for woman, and even the thought of homo’s make me sick.” Punk then replied, “Kill yourself.” He told another supporter of the nuclear family to “drink...

The largest bankruptcy court in the country has declared the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act a violation of the Constitution's equal protection guarantee. The decision signed by 20 judges of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California is the first bankruptcy court to address the constitutionality of the law passed by Congress 15 years ago which prohibits federal government recognition of same-sex marriage. The decision came in a case in which a legally married gay couple was seeking to jointly file for bankruptcy. The ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas A. Donovan in Los Angeles adds weight...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration has filed court papers claiming a federal marriage law discriminates against gays, even as it continues to defend the law.

CNSNews.com Dems' New National Platform Opposes Defense of Marriage Act Tuesday, August 12, 2008 By Josiah Ryan, Staff Writer (CNSNews.com) – The 2008 Democratic Party platform draft, which will be submitted to delegates at the Democratic National Convention for approval later this month, expresses opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law that presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says he wants to repeal. “We will enact a comprehensive bipartisan employment non-discrimination act,” says the platform draft. “We oppose the Defense of Marriage Act and all attempts to use this issue to divide us.”

Last year, singer Melissa Etheridge promised to love and protect her new partner, actress Tammy Lynn Michaels, until death do them part, but she may not be able to leave her songs to Michaels. U.S. copyright law discriminates against homosexuals by not allowing songwriters and other artists to determine conclusively who gets the rights to their work at the time of their death. No matter what an artist's intention, spouses, children and grandchildren, in that order, are the first in line to recapture the copyrights, followed by next of kin, executors and administrators. Since most states do not recognize gay...

To: National Desk and Political Reporter Contact: Allison Dobson of Kerry-Edwards, 202-464-2800, Web: http://www.johnkerry.com BOSTON, July 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Senator John Kerry released the following statement today: "The floor of the United States Senate should only be used for the common good, not issues designed to divide us for political purposes. Throughout history, amending our Constitution -- the foundation of the nation's values and ideals -- has been serious business. However, even Republicans concede that this amendment is being offered only for political gains. The unfortunate result is that the important work of the American people -- funding our...

To: National Desk Contact: Jeff Lungren or Terry Shawn, 202-225-2492, both of the House Committee on the Judiciary WASHINGTON, July 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The House Judiciary Committee today approved by a 21-to-13 margin legislation that would ensure States continue to decide state marriage policy. H.R. 3313, introduced by Rep. John Hostettler (R-Ind.) and amended today by the Committee, removes the federal courts' jurisdiction to hear cases involving the provision in the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that allows States to decide whether to legally recognize out-of-state same-sex marriage licenses. Article III, Section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Efforts to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage foundered Wednesday afternoon when the proposal failed to garner enough votes in the Senate to stay alive. After final arguments by the leaders of each party, Republicans mustered 48 votes, 12 short of the 60 they needed to overcome a procedural hurdle and move the proposed amendment to the floor.

The politics of the marriage amendment. PRESIDENT BUSH'S endorsement last week of a constitutional amendment preserving the current understanding of marriage, and the decision of John Kerry and other leading Democrats vehemently to oppose it, ensures that the marriage debate will be front and center in American politics. And it will be prominent not just in 2004, but very likely for a number of election cycles to come. Until recently, that seemed far from certain. One year ago, gay marriage looked too radical to enter mainstream debate as early as 2004. One week ago, with the photogenic mayor of San...

AUGUSTA — The Maine House of Representatives on Wednesday killed a proposal that would require the Legislature's Judiciary Committee to develop a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. The sponsor of the joint order, Republican Rep. Brian Duprey of Hampden, warned against the possibility of "any activist judge trying to legislate from the bench" and suggested that an existing Maine statute that speaks to the issue of marriage should be bolstered. The House, voting 73-63, declined to go along, eliminating the need for Senate action. The House chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Democratic Rep....