Steve’s Weblog

You are not my friend, and I am not yours. You are supposed to represent me as a Senator from Texas, our relationship stops there.

I would expect that as a Senator you should know the difference between enforcing a law and defending a law in court. There’s no confusion, except apparently, on your part.

I’m disappointed that your constituent response email is full of misrepresentations like that. DOMA denies legally married couples in those five states where it is legal, the equal protection they are entitled to under the constitution, what’s so confusing about that?

Dear Friend:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the Defense of Marriage Act. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

In 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defined marriage as being only between a man and a woman, and provided that states are not required to recognize same-sex marriages granted under another state’s laws. I voted for this federal law, and I continue to support it because I believe the traditional family unit should remain the foundation of our society.

On February 23, 2011, however, President Barack Obama instructed the U.S. Justice Department to cease defending the constitutionality of the DOMA. The Justice Department subsequently announced that it will not defend the DOMA’s constitutionality against a legal challenge (groundless, in my view) that has been pending before a federal appeals court.

In my view, the president’s action is indefensible and undermines our entire legal system. No president should be able to pick and choose which federal laws will be upheld and which will not. Furthermore, the president’s action is guaranteed to create confusion and more lawsuits. Currently, there are only five states in which marriages for same-sex couples are performed. However, in 30 states such unions are either statutorily or constitutionally banned. The DOMA was enacted by Congress in order to protect individual states and their laws against same-sex marriages.

I will continue to support the DOMA and work with my like-minded Senate colleagues to do all that can be done to uphold this federal law. I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope that you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue that is important to you.

Sincerely,
Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator

284 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5922 (tel)
202-224-0776 (fax)

http://hutchison.senate.gov