Retiring Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), commenting on today’s federal court ruling that again finds DOMA unconstitutional, is looking to the future and suggesting the Supreme Court should “add its support.”
In a statement, Congressman Frank writes:
I am very pleased by this unanimous decision by the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
The current situation, in which the rights of some couples married in other states are recognized, while the rights of other couples married in those states are denied, is clearly a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
This ruling vindicates the decision by the Obama administration not to defend the “Defense of Marriage Act,†which denies rights to millions of Americans. It is also a tribute to the thoughtful, principled legal strategy by Mary Bonauto and her associates at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.
I am confident that the U.S. Supreme Court will add its support for this decision which is so firmly grounded in long-standing American constitutional principles.
As The New Civil Rights Movement reported earlier today, DOMA, the federal Defense of Marriage Act, today was again declared unconstitutional by a federal court — the second time in five days — this time in a unanimous decision by a three-judge court of appeals panel which includes two Republican-appointed judges. The court ruled against Speaker of the House John Boehner’s hand-picked lawyer for theBLAG, Paul Clement, whom U.S. taxpayers are paying up to $1.5 million to defend DOMA. With this ruling, now five federal court judges have declared DOMA unconstitutional.