Legal News

Obama Gambles With Shift on Gay Marriage

By WSJ Staff

Conservative activists responded to the Obama administration’s shift on gay marriage with predictable outrage while the move drew praise from Democrats, writes Patrick O’Connor, our colleague  over at WashWire.

By picking this fight, the president is gambling that public opinion has shifted significantly in the intervening decade-and-a-half, his story says. A CNN/Opinion Research poll last August showed a majority 52% to 46% believe gay marriage should be allowed. And a Quinnipiac poll in New York last month showed voters in the Empire State support legislation allowing same-sex marriage by 56% to 37%.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder informed House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday that the president has directed the Justice Department not to defend the constitutionality of a law that prevents the federal government from recognizing gay marriage. Washwire offers some of the immediate reaction.

"I'm deeply disappointed," former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican considering a challenge of Mr. Obama, told reporters Wednesday. ""They are clearly out of sync with the American public."

The American Principles Project called on Congress to step into the court case. "By instructing the Department of Justice not to defend DOMA, the President is subverting the democratic process and directing a unilateral repeal of a law that reflects the will of the majority of Americans," Frank Cannon, president of the American Principles Project said in a statement.

Charles Donovan, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation,said in a statement that "After a series of steps that undermined the legal case for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the Obama administration has apparently decided to drop its mask and publicly switch sides."

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 23, 2011 (boomark / email).