John Boehner is taking matters into his own hands.
After the Justice Department last month changed its policy and said it will no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, the House Speaker said the House would take action to defend the 1996 statute that limits the definition of “marriage” for federal purposes as a union between a man and a woman.
Boehner on Friday announced that he would convene a meeting of the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group as a first step to defend DOMA. The House group is a five-member panel consisting of the Speaker, Majority Leader, Majority Whip, Minority Leader and Minority Whip. Under House rules, the group can instruct the the House General Counsel to take legal action on behalf of the House.
On Wednesday evening, Boehner announced that the group had voted on a plan to direct House General Counsel Kerry Kirchner to defend DOMA on behalf of the House. The resolution calls on the the House General Counsel to “take such steps as he considers appropriate,” including filing an amicus brief, to “protect the interests of the House in litigation in which the Attorney General has ceased to defend the constitutionality of section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) after the vote tweeted that the 3-2 vote was “no surprise” with support from Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and opposition from Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.)
Boehner in a statement said, “This action by the House will ensure that this law’s constitutionality is decided by the courts, rather than by the President unilaterally.”
