Yesterday, we got the news that John Boehner was spending your tax dollars on a high-priced lawyer in order to defend DOMA. The first case in which Boehner had to intervene was Windsor v. United States. The federal magistrate had given Boehner until yesterday to decide if he was going to intervene - and, clearly, he did.
Last night, the ACLU provided statements about this developmnt from Edie and her lawyer, Robbie Kaplan. They're ready.
Edie said:
DOMA is so clearly unjust in the way that it treats me as a second class citizen. I am very disappointed that the House of Representatives has decided to intervene in my case in order to try to prevent me from obtaining a refund of the $363,000 in estate taxes that I should never have had to pay in the first place. I'm sure that the House's intervention won't change the ultimate result since the court will agree with us, as well as with the president and the Department of Justice, that DOMA is unconstitutional.Edie's lawyer is Roberta Kaplan of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. She said:
We are determined to move forward with Edie's case as expeditiously as possible so that the court can rule that all marriages are equal under the law and that DOMA is unconstitutional. Our client, who is not getting any younger, filed her case more than five months ago and it is clearly time for her to have her day in court.Boehner and his lawyers are going to see some actual fierce advocacy in this and the other DOMA cases.
And, Edie's right. DOMA is unconstitutional. Beating Boehner's lawyers is going to make the victory all the more sweet.
