GOP Controlled Virginia House of Delegates Backs Bill to Let Lawmakers Defend Laws

Homophobe Del. Todd Gilbert

The Christofascists at The Family Foundation are not the only ones becoming hysterical that same sex marriage might become legal in Virginia and that Virginia might just be dragged into the 21st century.  In the GOP controlled House of Delegates - which might as well be a branch of The Family Foundation - GOP extremist have passed a bill that would allow any member of the General Assembly to institute lawsuits or defend lawsuits challenging any Virginia statute of constitutional provision whenever the Attorney General refuses to defend an unconstitutional law.  One can only imagine the batshitery that folks like Del. Bob Marshall would usher in if such a bill were passed into law.  Hopefully, the measure will be killed in the Virginia Senate or, in the last instance, vetoed by Governor McAuliffe.  Here are highlights from the Richmond Times Dispatch:  

The House of Delegates on Friday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would let any member of the General Assembly defend a law in federal court if the attorney general refuses.

Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, drafted House Bill 706 in anticipation of Attorney General Mark R. Herring’s announcement that he would not defend Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban in federal suits seeking to overturn it.

Herring said last week that after “thorough review,” he found the ban to be in violation of the equal protection clause under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

“When we pass a law we expect our attorney will defend it and that the Constitution will be upheld,” Gilbert said.

Herring spokesman Michael Kelly said that Gilbert has acknowledged his bill “is about opposing marriage equality at all costs, even if it raises obvious constitutional concerns about separation of powers, not to mention the limitless range of negative consequences it could have in practice.”

The Virginia Constitution empowers legislators to pass laws and the attorney general to represent the state in legal proceedings, Kelly said. “That’s the way it should stay.”

Gilbert’s measure, which will be on the House floor for a final vote Monday, includes an amendment by Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William. The amendment would also give the House of Delegates, the state Senate or the entire General Assembly the standing to file suit in federal court.

Del. Joseph D. Morrissey, D-Henrico, questioned the proposal’s constitutionality.

“No state legislature can give itself such standing,” Morrissey said. “This bill cannot under any circumstance withstand a challenge in federal court.

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, believes that even if the proposal passed in both houses, Gov. Terry McAuliffe would likely veto it. “The General Assembly can prescribe standing for state courts, but it cannot create standing for purposes of federal law,” Tobias said.

As an aside,  I am often struck by the fact that it is generally - but not always - unattractive men like Gilbert who would be hard put to pick up a cute guy under any circumstance that are the most hyserically against same sex marriage and gay rights in general?  By my tastes, Gilbert would make celibacy look attractive.