Following a meeting of a bipartisan panel consisting of House Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Boehner announced that the House will intervene as a third-party defendant in cases challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
"Today, after consultation with the Bipartisan Leadership Advisory Group, the House General Counsel has been directed to initiate a legal defense of this law. This action by the House will ensure that this law's constitutionality is decided by the courts, rather than by the President unilaterally."
As expected, the vote to defend was 3-2 on the GOP majority majority panel:
"Members of the BLAG (Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group) met for nearly 30 minutes in Speaker Boehner's Capitol Hill office suite to discuss the matter, Hoyer told reporters following the meeting."
You may have missed…
DOMA: Defending the Indefensible [tr]
