Marriage Act quits

Only lead attorney remains as legal team bails

A legal team that accepted a commission from House Speaker John Boehner to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act has bailed on the fight, but the lead individual attorney says he'll keep his word to fight on behalf of marriage.

The announcement from the international law firm of King & Spaulding today said it had filed a motion to withdraw from representing the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of Representations.

That group was assembled after President Barack Obama and attorney general Eric Holder said they would refuse to honor their obligations to defend a valid law of the United States from court challenges.

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At least one member of Congress said the issue was simply politics for King & Spaulding.

The firm "buckled under political pressure and bailed with little regard for their ethical and legal obligations," U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., told OneNewsNow.

He said the actions were "inexcusable and an insult to the legal profession."

Homosexual activists, who had protested at at least one of the law firm's offices when it confirmed it would take the job, boasted of their success in applying pressure.

"This is a big win for us," said the UnicornBooty blog. "There is homophobic egg all over Speaker Boehner's face this morning. The country has no interest in defending this unconstitutional law, and now his attorney's (sic) do not either."

It might have been a case of speaking a little too soon, however, as the lead attorney on the case, former Solicitor General Paul Clement, immediately announced that as King & Spaulding was abandoning the case, he was leaving the firm in order to continue his commitment to the House group.

In a letter Congress, he said, "I resign out of the firmly held belief that a representation should not be abandoned because the client's legal position is extremely unpopular in certain quarters. Defending unpopular positions is what lawyers do.

"Efforts to delegitimize any representation for one side of a legal controversy are a profound threat to the rule of law," he continued.

Mathew Staver, founder and chief of Liberty Counsel, said it appeared there were political complaints from within the branches of the law firm and that prompted the decision. He told OneNewsNow that is an example of the "frank intolerance" on the part of homosexuals pushing the same-sex "marriage" issue.

According to NBC, Clement already has joined a new firm, Bancroft PLLC, through which he will fulfill his obligations to defend the federal law.

"Mr. Clement has demonstrated legal integrity, and we are grateful for his decision to continue representing the House," Boehner said in a statement.

WND had reported only days ago on the launch of a new campaign calling on members of Congress to defend marriage between one man and one woman as the foundation of civilization.

It warns the alternative is a redefinition of the institution – "for the first time in more than 5,000 years" – simply to satisfy the demands of a "miniscule segment of our population."

The effort is being championed by Kenneth L. Hutcherson, senior pastor and co-founder of Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland, Wash., who recently wrote in a column on WND saying the defense of marriage "is a movement I would be willing to lead."

The "TIME TO DEFEND MARRIAGE: The Genesis 2:24 Campaign" is named after the earliest scriptural teaching on marriage. It enables constituents to send letters to all 535 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, encouraging them to prevent the societal consequences of caving in to the demands of homosexuals who insist the rest of society affirm their same-sex "marriages."

Such arguments have been hottest in the courts in California in recent months, since voters there approved a state constitutional amendment limiting  marriage to one man and one woman, and a homosexual judge who appears to stand to benefit from his own ruling declared it unconstitutional. Voters in 30 other states already had approved defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

"Let's be clear:" the letter tells members of Congress. "What we're talking about is the federal government's de facto imposition, on all 50 states, of a radical redefinition of marriage for the first time in more than 5,000 years – just to indulge the questionable demands of a miniscule segment of our population.

"Yet, who can deny that such frivolous experimentation with a foundational societal institution like marriage will inevitably result in serious, long-term ramifications to society as a whole? Loss of religious liberties of the vast majority of Americans as well as the complete breakdown of the family as we know it are just part of the fallout that will result," it says.

In Canada, arguments already are being made in courts that since government prohibitions on same-sex "marriage" have been removed, so should bans on polygamy. A California Supreme Court justice warned of such developments when his court, over his objections, created same-sex "marriage" in the state.

Hutcherson told WND earlier that Christians shouldn't be surprised when homosexuals seek their own way with American society; that's simply their nature.

"When Christians don't stand together, those who don't have our views are going to fill the vacuum," he told WND.

But he said if Christians come together, "no way is the secular world" going to succeed.

The campaign, which also is supported by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, now of MyFamilyTalk.com, as well as Gary Bauer and Family Research Council and dozens of other high-profile Christian leaders, is called "The Initiative for Moral Excellence" – or TIME.

According to the campaign, "Marriage is under attack by zealots who want to redefine the cornerstone institution as one not between a man and a woman – but one between a man and a man or a woman and a woman. Nothing will result in the destruction of Western Civilization faster than such a development."

Fighting back is essential now, the letter to representatives urges.

"I know you have many urgent concerns and crises being put before you for consideration. But truthfully, none of them can conceivably be as important and consequential over the long term as this one. I therefore urge you, with all earnestness, to do everything you can from your position of power to defend traditional marriage now. Later will simply be too late," the letter says.

The campaign allows citizens to lobby all 535 members of Congress

The campaign's costs total $29.99 for the process that will deliver letters to each of the members of the U.S. House, signed by you and individually addressed

Click here to learn more about this new campaign!

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