Republicans Appeal DOMA Case to Supreme Court

John Boehner

House Republicans have made the pivotal move of appealing a Defense of Marriage case to the Supreme Court.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi confirmed the decision in a statement condemning Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans for deciding "to waste more taxpayer funds to advance a position rejected by four different courts and to defend discrimination and inequality before the highest court in the land."

Pelosi sits on the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group that oversees decisions about the House's legal action in the case. Republican leadership controls the committee.

Republicans are appealing a federal court decision that found in May that DOMA is unconstitutional in the combined cases of Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v. United States. It was the first time DOMA had been ruled unconstitutional, but it wasn't the last. Others are also on a path to the Supreme Court.

House Republicans gave themselves a $1.5 million budget as they pick up the defense of DOMA after the Obama Justice Department dropped it, saying the law is indefensible because it's unconstitutional. Pelosi said Democrats have rejected what she calls the Republican "assault on equal rights."

"We believe there is no federal interest in denying LGBT couples the same rights and responsibilities afforded to all couples married under state law," Pelosi said. "And we are confident that the Supreme Court, if it considers the case, will declare DOMA unconstitutional and relegate it to the dustbin of history once and for all."