60 House Democrats Join With GOP, Refuse To Sign Anti-DOMA Amicus Brief
Yesterday, in an impressive pro-equality statement, 132 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives — led by Nancy Pelosi — signed an amicus brief stating DOMA is unconstitutional. But 60 House Democrats joined with all the Republicans in the House and refused to sign. Even more surprising, twenty of those 60 are co-signers of the House bill that would repeal DOMA, the federal Defense of Marriage Act that bans the federal government from recognizing legally-married same-sex couples.
READ: Obama DOJ Fast-Tracks DOMA To Supreme Court — Will DOMA Soon Be DOA?
As The New Civil Rights Movement reported yesterday, the brief specifically notes that the House is not of one mind on DOMA, and the signatories believe it unconstitutional and are opposed to Speaker of the House John Boehner‘s attempts t0 defend the law — already found unconstitutional by several federal court judges — in court, to the tune of an estimated $1.5 million.
The amicus brief includes signatures from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Whip Steny Hoyer, Jerrold Nadler, James Clyburn, and John Conyers, along with members of the House LGBT Caucus: Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin, Jared Polis, and David N. Cicilline.
The brief was filed specifically in support of Golinski v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
 Of course, not signing the brief is not proof any of the 60 support DOMA.
Chris Geidner, writing at Buzzfeed, notes that many are “representing contested districts or relatively conservative regions.” Geidner reports:
The 60 Democrats who did not sign on to today’s brief are (with those co-sponsoring the DOMA repeal bill in italics):
Mid-Atlantic (9): Jason Altmire (PA), John C. Carney Jr. (DE), Mark Critz (PA), Elijah Cummings (MD), Tim Holden (PA), Bill Pascrell Jr. (NJ), C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD), Allyson Schwartz (PA), Albio Sires (NJ)
Midwest (13): Leonard Boswell (IA), Russ Carnahan (MO), Jerry Costello (IL), John Dingell (MI), Joe Donnelly (IN), Marcy Kaptur (OH), Dale Kildee (MI), Ron Kind (WI), Daniel Lipinski (IL), David Loebsack (IA), Collin C. Peterson (MN), Betty Sutton (OH), Peter Visclosky (IN)
New England (3):Â James Langevin (RI), Stephen Lynch (MA), Michael Michaud (ME)
South (18): John Barrow (GA), Sanford Bishop (GA), Corrine Brown (FL), G.K. Butterfield (NC), Kathy Castor (FL), Ben Chandler (KY), Jim Cooper (TN), Larry Kissell (NC), Mike McIntyre (NC), Nick J. Rahall II (WV), Cedric Richmond (LA), Mike Ross (AR), David Scott (GA), Terri Sewell (AL), Heath Shuler (NC), Bennie G. Thompson (MS), Melvin Watt (NC), Frederica S. Wilson (FL)
Southwest (10): Dan Boren (OK), Henry Cuellar (TX), Al Green (TX), Gene Green (TX), Rubén Hinojosa (TX), Ben Ray Luján (NM), Jim Matheson (UT), Ed Perlmutter (CO), Silvestre Reyes (TX), Ron Barber (AZ)
West (7):Â Joe Baca (CA), Dennis Cardoza (CA), Jim Costa (CA), Peter DeFazio (OR), Norman Dicks (WA), Rick Larsen (WA), Kurt Schrader (OR)
You can thank your representative if they signed the brief, or ask them why they did not, via the House’s website, and read the full brief at our report from yesterday.
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