Brody's Notes... House Minority Leader Pelosi Asks House Speaker Boehner To Disclose Cost Of Defence Of DOMA

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA)

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) MAR 11 | The House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA) has sent House speaker John Boehner a letter Friday demanding that he makes public the estimated cost of hiring private attorneys by the House Republican leadership to defend the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. 

The Attorney General, Eric Holder, announced last month that the President had concluded that section 3 of DOMA was unconstitutional, after which the House GOP leadership condemned the presidential decision and vowed that they would defend the law.
Critics have charged that the GOP is pandering to the far-right anti-gay christian fundamentalists while ignoring the reasons for the sweeping Republican victory last November which were focused on high unemployment, the troubled economy, and what is seen as out of control Federal spending. These themes being reiterated by the Congresswoman in her letter to the Speaker today:

"The American people want Congress to be working on the creation of jobs and ensuring the continued progress of our economic recovery rather than involving itself unnecessarily in such costly and divisive litigation," Pelosi wrote.

On Monday, the Minority Leader and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, (D-MD), the only Democrats on the five-member House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, voted against authorising the House to defend DOMA. The three Republican members — Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor(R-VA), and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, (R-CA) — all voted to authorise the House General Counsel to retain outside counsel to step in and participate in defending  the statue. in the multiple federal lawsuits currently pending.

Full Text Of Minority Leader Pelois' Letter:

Dear Mr. Speaker:

The House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) voted this week by a 3-2 margin to direct the House General Counsel to initiate a legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). As you know, the Democratic members of the BLAG voted against directing the House Counsel to initiate the costly defense of a statute which many believe to be unconstitutional under the Equal Protection clause.

While respecting the role of the BLAG to make such decisions, I disagree in this circumstance because of the number of cases, at least 10. There are numerous parties who will continue to litigate these ongoing cases regardless of the involvement of the House. No institutional purpose is served by having the House of Representatives intervene in this litigation which will consume 18 months or longer. As we noted, the constitutionality of this statute will be determined by the Courts, regardless of whether the House chooses to intervene.

The resolution passed by the BLAG also directs the House General Counsel to hire private lawyers rather than utilize his own office to represent the House. The General Counsel indicated that he lacked the personnel and the budget to absorb those substantial litigation duties. It is important that the House receive an estimate of the cost to taxpayers for engaging private lawyers to intervene in the pending DOMA cases. It is also important that the House know whether the BLAG, the General Counsel, or a Committee of the House have the responsibility to monitor the actions of the outside lawyers and their fees.

The American people want Congress to be working on the creation of jobs and ensuring the continued progress of our economic recovery rather than involving itself unnecessarily in such costly and divisive litigation.

Thank you for your responses to these questions concerning the cost and oversight of the litigation as it proceeds through the courts.

Best regards,

Nancy Pelosi

Democratic Leader