GOP Senators File DOMA Amicus Brief

Yesterday ten GOP Senators filed an amicus brief is support of the DOMA case currently before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Throwing a party for Orrin Hatch and other GOP U.S. senators? Better not invite U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of San Francisco. Hatch and nine other senators who voted for the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 filed an amicus curiae brief Monday in a constitutional challenge to the law before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In it they have a bone to pick with White — and not just because they disagree with his ruling. In striking down DOMA in February, White had observed that "the legislative history is replete with expressed animus toward gay men and lesbians." Specifically, White noted that some congressmen during floor debate had called homosexuality "immoral," "depraved," "unnatural," "based on perversion" and "an attack on god's principles." Quoting Justice Anthony Kennedy, White said prejudice may be caused by "simple want of careful, rational reflection," among other things.