Whether the state attorney general is able to delegate the defense of Pennsylvania’s ban on gay marriage to the Office of General Counsel hinges on an interpretation of the Commonwealth Attorneys Act, lawyers familiar with government practice have told Pennsylvania Law Weekly.
The recent announcement from Attorney General Kathleen Kane that she would not defend the state’s 1996 law, which mirrors the federal Defense of Marriage Act’s definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman, drew criticism from Republican lawmakers and kicked up a dispute between her office and the OGC. Kane was among several defendants named in a suit filed earlier by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of several Pennsylvania couples who are unable to wed.
