Rep. Mike Honda: Use DOMA Defense Fund To Investigate Trayvon Martin Killing

Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) says a better use of John Boehner's $1.5M DOMA defense fund would be for the investigation of the shooting of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. Via the anti-gay Washington Times:

“We can spend some of that money and address ourselves to the issue in Florida where we could do some investigation and see if there are civil rights violations,” said Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., and a senior Democratic whip team member. At an appropriations subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Honda called on the GOP leadership to stop defending DOMA because the White House in February 2011 said it would stop defending the law, which Attorney General Eric Holder said violated the Constitution. The Supreme Court hasn’t ruled on the law that defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman. When Holder made his surprise decision, House leaders ordered their lawyers to defend the law on their own. The House is planning to spend up to $1.5 million to defend the law in nearly a dozen cases. Honda wants to ship that money to the Martin case, claiming that the House doesn’t have to defend all of the legal challenges to DOMA, just a few to make its point. “It’s cover your ass,” he said.