(Getty Images)
While this says nothing about what the House Of Representatives will attempt to do from a legislative standpoint, lawyers for BLAG (the House’s Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group) have announced that they will no longer attempt to fight against marriage equality in court:
WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders announced in a court filing Thursday that they will not be defending remaining statutes similar to the Defense of Marriage Act that ban recognition of same-sex couples’ marriages.
The move comes three weeks and one day after the Supreme Court ruled in Edith Windsor’s case that the federal definition of marriage in DOMA was unconstitutional because it banned the federal government from recognizing same-sex couples’ marriages.
“[T]he House has determined, in light of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Windsor, that it no longer will defend that statute,” lawyers for the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), controlled by House Republicans, wrote about veterans’ benefits statutes that similarly ban recognition of same-sex couples’ marriages.
BLAG added:
The Supreme Court recently resolved the issue of DOMA Section 3’s constitutionality. See United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. __ (2013), 2013 WL 3196928 (U.S. June 26, 2013). The Windsor decision necessarily resolves the issue of DOMA Section 3’s constitutionality in this case. While the question of whether 38 U.S.C. § 101(3), (31) is constitutional remains open, the House has determined, in light of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Windsor, that it no longer will defend that statute. Accordingly, the House now seeks leave to withdraw as a party defendant.
As Chris Geidner wrote last week, this is how the marriage equality fight will end — “with a whimper.” And since he cries a lot, John Boehner is the perfect guy to execute that perfectly formed whimper.
