DOMA is unconstitutional says Larry Tribe

Quoting Larry Tribe, Con Law Prof, Huffington Post reports that Tribe has stated:

"I certainly agree (a) that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional, at least as applied to couples like those who are currently challenging it in federal court here in Massachusetts.... I'm not at all reluctant to have it known that I think the equality component of the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause forbids the federal government to deny same-sex spouses benefits identical to those that it would grant to opposite-sex spouses when the spouses are "married" under the law of their state -- that is, when the spouses were married and reside in states where the law forbids a distinction between same-sex and opposite-sex marriage and rejects the DOMA definition of 'marriage.'"

The HuffPo piece by Emma Ruby-Sachs notes that Tribe "hired Obama as a research assistant in his first year of law school."   The implication is that Obama is influenced by his former conlawprof?  One might also look at Professor Obama's 1996 Con Law exam "feedback" regarding a lesbian issue, discussed here. 

The DOJ has until June 29 to decide whether or not to defend the DOMA challenge, discussed here.  The federal government's stance on the lawsuit is being closely watched.  Obama is being criticized for not keeping his campaign promises to LGBT Americans.  Obama's most recent statement on LGBT issues, blogged here, is also being criticized as insufficient as well as too radical. 

DOMA was signed by then-President Bill Clinton in 1996 (pictured below).

RR