Newly Sworn-In Attorney General Loretta Lynch Weighs In On Supreme Court Marriage Case

On her first full day, Attorney General Loretta Lynch found time to weigh in on today’s same-sex marriage hearings at the Supreme Court

After waiting nearly six months to be confirmed. Loretta Lynch was sworn in as our nation’s 83rd Attorney General. Today, AG Lynch issued a statement on today’s same-sex marriage hearing at the Supreme Court.

“I am committed – as is this department – to ensuring equal dignity and equal treatment for all members of society, regardless of sexual orientation,” Lynch said in a statement via email. “As we argued today before the Supreme Court, same-sex couples deserve that treatment now.”

The “we” would be U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, who works for the Justice Department. Today, Verrilli argued that the right to marry is “integral to human dignity,” and noted that a “wait-and-see” approach gives gay people “second-class status.”

“Gay and lesbian people are equal,” Verrilli told the justices. “They deserve equal protection of the laws, and they deserve it now.”

 

Image by U.S. Mission Geneva/ Eric Bridiers via Flickr and a CC license