130 Reps Present Strike Against DOMA

One-hundred thirty members of Congress filed a joint amicus brief supportive of a lesbian couple challenging the so-called Defense of Marriage Act in court.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and all four openly gay members of the House, representatives Tammy Baldwin, Barney Frank, David Cicilline, and Jared Polis signed the brief released Tuesday for Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management. Karen Golinski, a federal court employee, sued the government after being denied equal spousal benefits for her wife that her colleagues in heterosexual marriages have access to under Section 3 of DOMA.

The brief argues that Section 3 of DOMA undermines Congress's legitimate interests, while also arguing that Section 3 is harmful because it was a clear, discriminatory strike against LGBT people and same-sex couples.

The Department of Justice recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the Golinski case, along with Massachusetts v. Department of Health and Human Services. The House's Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), with Pelosi and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer strongly objecting, hired outside lawyers to defend DOMA in court under the direction of Speaker John Boehner.

The brief also states that the BLAG lawyers do not speak for the entire House, and that not all representatives agree on the validity of DOMA.

The full brief is available here as a PDF.

See the signatories on the following page...

Signatories:

Nancy Pelosi
Steny Hoyer
James E. Clyburn
Jerrold Nadler
John Conyers, Jr.
Barney Frank
Tammy Baldwin
Jared Polis
David N. Cicilline

Gary L. Ackerman
Robert E. Andrews
Karen Bass
Xavier Becerra
Shelley Berkley
Howard L. Berman
Timothy H. Bishop
Earl Blumenauer
Suzanne Bonamici
Robert A. Brady
Bruce L. Braley
Lois Capps
Michael E. Capuano
Andre Carson
Judy Chu
Hansen Clarke
Yvette D. Clarke
Wm. Lacy Clay
Emanuel Cleaver
Steve Cohen
Gerald E. Connolly
Joe Courtney
Joseph Crowley
Danny K. Davis
Susan A. Davis
Diana DeGette
Rosa L. DeLauro
Theodore E. Deutch
Lloyd Doggett
Michael F. Doyle
Donna F. Edwards
Keith Ellison
Eliot L. Engel
Anna G. Eshoo
Sam Farr
Chaka Fattah
Bob Filner
Marcia L. Fudge
John Garamendi
Charles A. Gonzalez
Raul M. Grijalva
Luis V. Gutierrez
Janice Hahn
Colleen W. Hanabusa
Alcee L. Hastings
Martin Heinrich
Brian Higgins
James A. Himes
Maurice D. Hinchey
Mazie K. Hirono
Kathy Hochul
Rush D. Holt
Michael M. Honda
Steve Israel
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.
Sheila Jackson Lee
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr.
William R. Keating
Dennis J. Kucinich
John B. Larson
Barbara Lee
Sander M. Levin
John Lewis
Zoe Lofgren
Nita M. Lowey
Carolyn B. Maloney
Edward J. Markey
Doris O. Matsui
Carolyn McCarthy
Betty McCollum
Jim McDermott
James P. McGovern
Jerry McNerney
Gregory W. Meeks
Brad Miller
George Miller
Gwen Moore
James P. Moran
Christopher S. Murphy
Grace F. Napolitano
Richard E. Neal
Eleanor Holmes Norton
John W. Olver
William L. Owens
Frank Pallone, Jr.
Ed Pastor
Gary C. Peters
Chellie Pingree
David E. Price
Mike Quigley
Charles B. Rangel
Laura Richardson
Steven R. Rothman
Lucille Roybal-Allard
Bobby L. Rush
Tim Ryan
Linda T. Sanchez
Loretta Sanchez
John P. Sarbanes
Janice D. Schakowsky
Adam B. Schiff
Robert C. "Bobby" Scott
Jose E. Serrano
Brad Sherman
Louise McIntosh Slaughter
Adam Smith
Jackie Speier
Fortney Pete Stark
Mike Thompson
John F. Tierney
Paul Tonko
Edolphus Towns
Niki Tsongas
Chris Van Hollen
Nydia M. Velazquez
Timothy J. Walz
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Maxine Waters
Henry A. Waxman
Peter Welch
Lynn C. Woolsey
John A. Yarmuth