Walter Dellinger, a former solicitor general during the Clinton administration, praised Monday’s filing for striking “a delicate but appropriate balance between the government’s obligation to respect federal laws enacted by Congress and this administration’s policy and moral concerns about this particular law.”
The Justice Department is obligated “to defend federal statutes when they are challenged in court. The Justice Department cannot pick and choose which federal laws it will defend based on any one administration’s policy preferences,” said department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler.
The Clinton-era law denies federal recognition of gay marriage and gives states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
The administration also disavowed past arguments made by conservatives that DOMA protects children by defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
The mixed message got a mixed review from Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group.