[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3540]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                PRESIDENT OBAMA ENFORCES THE LAW ON DOMA

  (Mr. NADLER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. NADLER. I hadn't planned to speak except I must rebut the 
nonsense we just heard from the previous speaker.
  Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States has a duty to 
faithfully execute the laws. He is doing so. Though he doesn't agree 
with the Defense of Marriage Act and though he doesn't think it's 
constitutional, unlike President Bush, who refused to implement and to 
enforce the laws he thought were unconstitutional, President Obama is 
enforcing the law. He is simply not urging it in court. That's his 
prerogative, and that's his duty if he doesn't think it's 
constitutional.
  The fact of the matter is, given Supreme Court precedent on the 
standards to use in defending a law that discriminates against people, 
he had no choice because, when you have a group that is discriminated 
against and that inherently in its characteristics is not politically 
powerful enough to protect itself, the precedents all say you must have 
heightened scrutiny.
  That is what the President is urging in court. He is enforcing the 
law, and he is doing exactly what he ought to do.

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