Protest Planned Against Law Firm Defending DOMA

Gay rights groups will protest an Atlanta-based law firm this week after it was tapped by House Republican leadership to defend the Defense of Marriage Act.

In a weekend release, Georgia Equality and the Human Rights Campaign announced it will hold a Tuesday press conference one block from King & Spalding's Atlanta offices.

Paul Clement, former solicitor general under President George W. Bush who heads the firm's national appellate practice, was retained to represent the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group in "one or more" cases related to DOMA's constitutionality.

King & Spalding, HRC noted in its release, "will represent Congress at the rate of $520 an hour in taxpayer dollars to argue that they're right to deny federal recognition and over 1,000 rights and benefits to legally married same-sex couples. Firms are rightly judged on the cases they voluntarily take on and history will not be kind to K&S's decision to defend institutionalized discrimination."

A King & Spalding representative declined comment. "As a matter of policy, the firm does not comment on client representation," King & Spalding director of communications Les Zuke told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

GA Voice reports that HRC president Joe Solmonese will speak at the event with Georgia Equality executive director, law students from area universities, and LGBT families.

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