A group of law professors led by Lynn Wardle of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University say Windsor's challenge to DOMA must fail, not only on standing and jurisdictional issues, but also because the Second Circuit "erroneously held" that DOMA's §3 "intrudes upon state regulation of marriage and violates principles of federalism."
Federalism, the professors state, "includes and protects the authority of Congress to define who is eligible for federal programs and federal benefits" and "for centuries, Congress has enacted similar statutes defining domestic relationships and their incidents for purposes of federal law."
Some of the amici take positions influenced by religion.
"This nation that God blessed and built into a super power is going to perish if this Court and the governments of this land bless same-sex marriage through government license," argues the Westboro Baptist Church, a fringe group known for picketing military funerals over opposition to gays in the military.
John Mauck of Mauck & Baker in Chicago filed an amicus on behalf of the Manhattan Declaration Inc., a Virginia-based not-for-profit founded by Charles Colson, Timothy George and Robert George.
The group argues that there are "rational and compelling reasons to preserve" the "universally constitutive male-female character" of marriage, and the effort to preserve marriage is "grounded in sincere belief and sound public policy consideration, and not in animus" toward gays.
"Redefining marriage imperils religious freedom, inhibits people of faith from living out their lives in the public square, and creates a culture where Christian believers are ostracized and themselves targeted for discrimination," Mauck's brief states.
See other amicus briefs filed in Windsor and briefs filed in Hollingsworth.
Windsor's legal team is set to file its brief on Feb. 26.
Led by Roberta Kaplan of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and James Esseks of the American Civil Liberties Union, the team argued before Jones and the circuit that the distinction drawn by DOMA should be subject to the most exacting form of scrutiny but that it fails under any test.
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MIchael
This is the perfect distraction. Focus on 'deifning marriage' while the President signed the NDAA (allowing him to unilaterally declare folks 'domesitc terrorists' and thereby indefinitely detain them without criminal charges). Ignore the fact that Obama has kept the Bush/Cheney era 'defenses' in a plethora of lawsuits that simply ask for the 'evidence' concerning 9/11, the Iraq War and the pseudo-War on Terror. This is a smoke screen. Focus on what is essentially a 'no brainer'. (Seriously, who can state with a straight face that 'not allowing certain people to marry' is somehow constitutional and non-discriminatory??) while our Bill of Rights continues to be whittled down. Soon, the Preamble will only contain a Bill....and we know who they will get to pay that bill. We need electorally enforced term limits...every election year, VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS. These paid-spokespeople we call "Representatives, Senators, Supreme Court Justices and Presidents' cater to the elite, are controlled by the money printers, and are unapologetically screwing the working-class/poor, while touting and claiming to 'tax the rich'. Priorities people...defend marriage's definition, or defend our right to NOT have 'drones' murder us, our children and our siblings, ALL WITHOUT ARREST, CHARGE, ARRAIGNMENT, TRIAL OR CONVICTIOn.
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Gavern
What a convoluted load of legal rubbish. They forget that this is about the Federal rights which must be granted to ALL people regardless of who they are, who they marry, what color, sex or orientation they are. DOMA is as un-American as it gets. Discrimination on the basis of what the federal government deems as what marriage entitlement means is completely unacceptable in this day and age. Instead of eating the millions of dollars defending this stupidly called law and continuing to hurt so many people, these idiots need to have their heads reexamined and their hearts reinstalled. The amount of time and money that has been wasted on 'Defending Doma' is simply reductive and inhumanly disgraceful. Nearly every 1st world nation already gives 'Federal rights' to same sex couples, even if they call it Permanent partners or common law spouses etc this a F all to do with the religious definition of marriage and everything to do with the FEDERAL definition of marriage which governs just about every tax, immigration, and licensing law their is regardless of whether same sex marriage is legal or not in any state. I thought America was so proud to call itself the land of equality? I don't see a little * at the bottom that says 'except if you are gay or married to someone who happens to have the same physical parts as you'. Doma doesn't have a leg to stand on will be history very shortly.
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