Supreme Court to rule by June on US Defense of Marriage Act and reversal of CA Prop 8, which banned gay marriage; Boehner's GOP DOMA defense may not have standing; neither may Prop 8 defenders

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In the last two years, 10 courts with judges appointed by both GOP and Democratic presidents, including two federal appeals courts, have ruled that the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, signed by Bill Clinton in the dead of night, impermissibly treats legally-married gay couples unfairly in excluding them from tax breaks and other marriage benefits. As expected, the Supreme Court will rule on that. Unexpectedly, the court will also take up the reversal of California's Proposition 8, spearheaded by massive Mormon Church agitation, which banned gay marriage in the Golden State, and then was overturned on narrow grounds.



In her NPR report (above) Nina Totenberg notes:

     Typically, when a court says a federal statute is unconstitutional, the federal government appeals to the Supreme Court to change the outcome. But after initially defending DOMA in the courts, the Obama administration made a highly unusual U-turn, and instead urged the Supreme Court to strike down DOMA.
     At that point, the House Republican leadership hired its own lawyer to defend the law. So when the case is argued, probably in March, it will be that lawyer — former Bush administration Solicitor General Paul Clement — who will be defending the statute, while the Obama administration will be urging the court to strike down DOMA.
     These twists and turns apparently have caused the justices some concern as to whether they have the jurisdiction to decide the case when the federal government is no longer defending the law as constitutional. So the court has ordered the lawyers to also present arguments as to whether the Republican congressional leadership has standing to defend DOMA in place of the Obama administration.
     If the court decides the GOP leadership does not have standing, there would be no controversy to resolve, and presumably DOMA would be invalidated.