A Nation of Laws (Some Crappy)

Last week the Dept. of Justice filed a brief that defended The Defense Of Marriage Act, something Obama said was horrible and promised to repeal while campaigning for office. The DOJ does have to defend current law, but there was some troubling language in it that upset the GLBT community and people who care about advancing gay rights. (See Barry's post for more.)

Naturally, people wanted to know why a supposed "fierce advocate" for gay rights would do this.

So the President sends John Berry, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, to talk to The Advocate about it. This way the information gets to the gay community without Obama having to actually say something himself about gay rights. Anyway, Berry says the following about why the Obama DOJ had to file the brief:

This president took a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and he does not get to decide and choose which laws he enforces. He has to enforce the laws that have been enacted appropriately and that he has inherited.

This is great news! Surely Obama is moments away from enforcing the UN Convention Against Torture signed into law by Ronald Reagan, which requires us to prosecute torturers. (See my cartoon.) No picking and choosing for this president--he follows the law to the letter!

See Pam Spaulding for more on the DOMA issue.