The Choice to Defend DOMA, and Its Consequences

America Blog
June 14, 2009
Richard Socarides, a former Hill staffer and top aide to President Clinton, weighs in on whether or not President Obama's Department of Justice had a choice to file a brief supporting the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA):

From my experience, in a case where, as here, there are important political and social issues at stake, the president’s relationship with the Justice Department should work like this: The president makes a policy decision first and then the very talented DOJ lawyers figure out how to apply it to actual cases. If the lawyers cannot figure out how to defend a statute and stay consistent with the president’s policy decision, the policy decision should always win out.

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