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Rep. Lamar Smith Is Afraid Obama’s DoJ Isn’t Defending DOMA Enough. So He Wants In

Rep. Lamar Smith has The Sads about the Defense of Marriage Act. He sees you radical homosexuals attacking a perfectly reasonable law, and now the the Texas Republican wants to do something about it. Like protect it!

Smith — who boasts a 0 percent HRC score and voted for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage — is asking the federal U.S. District court in Boston to grant him status as an intervenor-defendant in both Massachusetts v. HHS and Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, which in July saw Judge Joseph Tauro strike down DOMA’S Section 3. Language that bans federal recognition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, Tauro declared.

But Obama’s Justice Department — which happens to be facing Massachusetts’ Attorney General Martha Coakley, Obama’s lost hope for the Senate — has until Oct. 18 to appeal OPM; HHS has until Oct. 11 to appeal its suit.

Except maybe they won’t do it? (Hah; we could only be so lucky.) The claim from Smith and his teammates at the Alliance Defense Fund, which is orchestrating the legal maneuver, is that DoJ’s defense of DOMA will be weak, or the federal attorneys will present “no defense at all.” What gives Smith standing in the case? According to ADF, as an elected official it’s his duty to uphold federal law, so getting involved only makes sense.

Not that Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, which brought Gill v. OPM to court, is sweating it: Mary Bonauto, the org’s civil rights director, says “ADF tries to intervene in everything. We’re just surprised it took this long.” And she plans to fight their involvement.

Rep. Smith and the National Organization for Marriage: Now seeing eye-to-eye.

[KNS]

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