With thanks to  House Speaker John Boehner and his  crew of ready to lose attorneys the U.S. Supreme Court may get to decide on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) a lot sooner than pro-equality advocates could have orchestrated themselves.

A spokesperson for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), told the Washington Blade on Friday afternoon Republicans had notified Democratic leadership that House counsel filed an appeal to the Supreme Court  in the cases of Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, which was filed by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Department of Health & Human Services. On May 31, the appellate court issued a decision that DOMA was unconstitutional as a result of both cases.

In February 2011, the Obama administration announced it would no longer defend DOMA in court. After the decision, Boehner convened the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, which voted 3-2 on a party-line basis to take up defense of DOMA in the administration’s stead.

Thank you Speaker Boehner for getting things moving here because we know we are going to win marriage equality at the highest level and this is a giant leap in that direction.

Source www.lgbtqnation.com/2012/06/boehner-appeals-doma-cases-to-u-s-supreme-court/