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Marriage Equality

Boehner: House Repubs Will Stay Out of Supreme Court Marriage Case

Boehner: House Repubs Will Stay Out of Supreme Court Marriage Case

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This represents a markedly different stance from the one congressional Republicans took when the court last considered marriage equality.

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Republican leaders in the U.S. House spent a good deal of time and money trying to defend the Defense of Marriage Act before the Supreme Court, but they don't plan to get involved in the marriage equality cases the court will consider this year, House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday.

"I don't expect that we're going to weigh in on this," Boehner said at a news conference in response to a question from the Washington Blade. "The court will make its decision and that's why they're there, to be the highest court in the land."

The court will hear marriage cases out of Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, and Boehner's home state of Ohio. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit last year upheld those states' bans on same-sex marriage, becoming the first federal appellate to rule in favor of such bans. The Supreme Court agreed in January to hear the cases, but oral arguments have yet to be scheduled.

In 2011, after the Obama administration declined to defend DOMA in court, Congress's Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, drawn from both the House and Senate with a 3-2 Republican majority, hired a private attorney, Paul Clement, to defend the law at a cost of more than $2 million overall. Despite Clement's efforts, the Supreme Court in 2013 struck down a key section of DOMA, clearing the way for the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages.

Some LGBT activists welcomed Boehner's announcement. It is a "commendable decision" and represents "a real step forward" by House Republicans, Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, told the Blade.

"Their evolution reflects the momentum for the freedom to marry nationwide, as well as the quiet hope of most Republican officials and operatives that the Supreme Court will rule in our favor and bring the country to national resolution, thereby rescuing them from their prior stance against the freedom to marry," Wolfson said. "They know their past pandering to part of their base is way out of step not only with a majority of the American people and independents, but with Republicans under 50 and even with young evangelicals."

Gregory Angelo, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, added that Boehner's remarks were "definitely encouraging," the Blade reports.

Democrats in the House and Senate don't intend to stay out of the case; they plan to file a friend of the court brief in support of marriage equality, the Blade notes, as they did in the DOMA case. The Obama administration also plans to file such a brief.

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.