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




            PROTECTING AND DEFENDING THE RULE OF LAW IN DOMA

  (Mr. FLEMING asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Speaker, what happened to the rule of law?
  Last week, the U.S. Justice Department announced that President Obama 
would stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act. I remind you that the 
President took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
  The Defense of Marriage Act became law in September 1996 to solidify 
traditional marriage within Federal law. The President now abandons the 
defense of this law, claiming that no reasonable argument can be made 
to demonstrate that the law is constitutional--a position many legal 
scholars have ridiculed while pointing to a wealth of legal authority, 
including to relevant Federal case law.
  So it appears that, not only is the President substituting his power 
and judgment for that of the Congress when it comes to a number of bold 
administrative measures to write law from the Oval Office, but he is 
now substituting his power and judgment for that of the Supreme Court. 
It appears to me that President Obama sees no need for the other two 
branches of the Federal Government.

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