It's good news that Obama's DOJ is going to finally meet with GLBT lawyers to "hash out" DOMA

[ruggerson]

This, of course, finally puts the nail in the coffin on the argument that DOJ is required to remain totally outside the realm and reality of the political world when litigating constitutional questions.

If President Obama thinks DOMA is discriminatory (which he has said) and if he believes it to be unconstitutional, (which is reasonable to assume), then there is no reason why Justice would not want to reflect the political reality of the administration under which they serve, concerning cases with enormous consitutional ramifications.

Apparently lawyers at Justice (and at OPM) have been rebuffing overtures from attorneys at both LAMBDA and GLAD since Obama's inauguration. GLAD has a very strong case coming down the pike involving eight married couples in MASS, who are suing the federal government, seeking to strike down the second clause of DOMA, the part that denies any federal recognition of couples who are legally married in their home states.

Justice refused repeatedly to meet with them and others.

As a result of shutting out these groups, we ended up with the Smelt brief. The nationwide furor over the DOJ brief in the gay community, and amongst their straight allies, set off a series of events that have culminated in the Justice Dept doing a complete about face and deciding to meet with the GLBT attorneys next week.

Hopefully, that meeting will begin the process of having Justice better reflect the political realities of the Obama administration. Obama says he wants DOMA overturned. There is no reason the lawyers at Justice, within, of course, the paramaters of their mandate, cannnot reflect that reality in future DOMA briefs that they will be filing in the next few weeks.

Another small step, but a positive one.

Full background here: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/gay-rights-lawyers-obama-administration-rebuffed-our-requests-for-dialog/

and here: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/justice-department/obama-administration-set-to-hold-powwow-with-big-gay-groups/

[Clio the Leo]

1. Love him or hate him, there's one thing you can say about Barack Obama....

.... he gives everyone a seat at the table. He's willing to talk.

(ok, that's two things)

[jefferson_dem]

2. "Powwow With Big Gay Groups"

A step. The dialog starts. Good.

We want ... we demand ... action.

[NYC_SKP]

3. Thank you for posting this, ruggerson.

:thumbsup:

Recommended.

[Thrill]

4. The brief would have never been filed if Dawn Johnson was confirmed

People need to put a little anger in to that.

[FrenchieCat]

5. What are we doing about this?

Anything????? :shrug:

[Thrill]

6. Nothing it appears. She's been out of committee for a couple of months now.

Yet, not one attempt to bring her nomination up for a floor vote. Even with a Democratic Senate with an overwhelming majority. Unreal

[donco6]

7. Who wouldn't want to be a fly on the wall in there.

Well, as long as Obama wasn't around anyway.

That was a LITTLE JOKE. Seriously, I'm very happy about this.

[ruggerson]

9. yep

I imagine it should be a fairly lively meeting.

[Starry Messenger]

8. Well *thats* welcome news.

I hope it's the first of many.