DOJ Brief Urges Nationwide End To Same-Sex Marriage Bans

Conclusion of the DOJ brief

With all kinds of groups, individuals and corporations - e.g., the people's brief (which I have joined) and Mayors for Marriage brief and 379 corporations - filing amicus briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court urging that bans on same sex marriage be struck down nationwide, the Christofascists must be sweating bullets and directing their typical lies and hate towards a growing circle of "enemies of marriage."  The Obama administration now joins the list that has filed a brief with the Court urging the court to find a constitutional right to same sex marriage under the U. S. Constitution.  A piece in BuzzFeed looks at the filing (the full brief can be found here).  Here are excerpts:

The United States government on Friday urged the Supreme Court to strike down state bans on same-sex couples’ marriages across the country, concluding, “There is no adequate justification for such a discriminatory and injurious exercise of state power.”

The filing in the cases challenging bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee represented nearly the end of a long path for the Obama administration on the issue, which began with President Obama opposing marriage rights for same-sex couples and his administration defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act.

On Friday, the Justice Department — which stopped defending the constitutionality of DOMA in February 2011 — told the Supreme Court, “The marriage bans challenged in these cases impermissibly exclude lesbian and gay couples from the rights, responsibilities, and status of civil marriage. These facially discriminatory laws impose concrete harms on same-sex couples and send the inescapable message that same-sex couples and their children are second-class families, unworthy of the recognition and benefits that opposite-sex couples take for granted.”  . . . . “The bans cannot be reconciled with the fundamental constitutional guarantee of ‘equal protection of the laws.’”

Specifically, the administration noted, “The President and Attorney General have determined that classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to heightened scrutiny.” That decision, made when the administration shifted gears on DOMA in 2011, would — if adopted by the Supreme Court — mean that laws and governmental policies that classify people based on sexual orientation should be viewed by courts with additional skepticism.  

As the piece notes, the states’ briefs defending the bans are due March 27, supportive amicus briefs due by the next Friday, and the oral arguments in the case are set for April 28.  I can just imagine the batshitery that will be found in the anti-gay amicus briefs.  It will no doubt be religious extremism and insanity on display.