Court: ADF to defend Prop. 8, federal DOMA
Friday, May 08, 2009SANTA ANA, Calif. — A federal court entered an order granting Alliance Defense Fund attorneys a motion to intervene Thursday on behalf of ProtectMarriage.com in a lawsuit waged by two men against the United States and the state of California to eliminate California’s state constitutional amendment protecting marriage and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. ADF attorneys filed a motion to intervene last month to defend the intended definition of marriage in a suit alleging that the passage of both Proposition 8 and DOMA violates the U.S. Constitution.
“The people of California want marriage to remain as the union between one man and one woman; they made their voice clear last November at the polls,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Brian Raum. “Yet this lawsuit begs the court to nullify the voices of more than 7 million California voters, as well as put an end to the federal law on marriage. We are pleased to be able to represent ProtectMarriage.com in defense of California’s constitutional marriage amendment and the federal DOMA. ”
In December 2008, two men filed a lawsuit claiming that the California marriage amendment, which voters decisively passed as Proposition 8 in last November’s election, violates the U.S. Constitution. The suit also argues that the federal Defense of Marriage Act, passed overwhelmingly by Congress and signed by former President Bill Clinton, is also unconstitutional. The men have asked the court to issue an overwhelmingly broad injunction “mandating the use of gender-neutral terms in all legislation affecting marriage.”
“ProtectMarriage.com, the official proponents and campaign committee of Proposition 8, says it is intervening in the lawsuit because otherwise California’s constitutional amendment would be left essentially undefended in light of the fact that the state attorney general has already argued that he thinks it should be invalidated,” said ADF-allied attorney Andrew Pugno of Folsom, who is directly working with ADF attorneys and allied attorney Sam Kim of Buena Park on the case.
- Order granting motion to intervene issued by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division, Santa Ana in Smelt v. United States of America
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
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ABOUT Brian Raum
Brian Raum serves as senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund at its headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he heads its marriage litigation team. Having earned his J.D. from the Regent University School of Law, he is admitted to the bar in the states of Virginia and New York, along with the federal bars in all the districts of New York, as well as the Central District of Illinois and the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 9th, 11th, and Federal Circuits. Before joining ADF in 2006, he worked for the American Center for Law and Justice as its New York state director and then engaged in private practice focusing on constitutional and civil litigation.