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Constitutional Follow-Up

By on July 6, 2010

Following up on the question raised — and unanswered — at the July 1 LGBT media briefing with White House domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes regarding whether the President Obama believes the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional, I wrote this follow-up piece, which was featured today at The Huffington Post: “Answer the Question.” In it, I write:

Although the Justice Department may be obligated to defend validly enacted laws, its decision regarding whether there is any legitimate ground for defending the constitutionality of a law like DOMA has no bearing on whether the president personally believes the law is constitutional or not.

This question, our constitutional scholar president knows, is different even from his view of whether he personally supports marriage equality. It is a question of his views of our nation’s constitutional protections. Obama owes the LGBT community — and the nation — an answer about whether he believes DOMA unconstitutionally restricts the equal rights of same-sex couples.

Check it out.

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