Former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement has been hired by Congress to do what the Obama administration refuses to do—defend the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court. The of-fice of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, confirmed yesterday that Mr. Clement, now the head of appellate practice at King & Spalding, would handle challenges to the act in the Southern District of New York and other federal courts.
Yesterday was the deadline for Congress to intervene in Windsor v. United States, 10 civ. 8435, a case before Southern District Judge Barbara Jones. It involves a challenge to §3 of the 1996 act, which states that, in interpreting any act of Congress or federal agency, the word “marriage” means a union between one man and one woman. The law has the effect of denying same-sex couples benefits available to heterosexual unions, even in states where same-sex marriages are recognized.
