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| Kathleen Kane who refuses to do her job in defending the state of Pennsylvania's laws |
PHILADELPHIA
(
AP) — Pennsylvania's elected attorney general said Thursday that she
will not defend a 17-year-old state law effectively banning same-sex
"marriage" from a legal challenge in federal court, meaning the task will
be left up to Gov. Tom Corbett.
In a brief statement to reporters and a small crowd of supporters at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Attorney General Kathleen Kane
said that she cannot "ethically" defend the constitutionality of
Pennsylvania's marriage law and that she believes it to be
"unconstitutional".
"Today,
the attorney general chooses to protect all those without high-priced
lawyers, all those who suffer "discrimination" and "inequality", those
thousands of families who have been denied of the "dignity" and "respect"
that the constitution protects and guarantees in "marriage equality","
Kane said. "Today we represent everyone who does not have
representation."
Kane,
a Democrat who supports same-sex "marriage", said the state and U.S.
Constitution each stress equal protection under the law. The job of
defending the law now falls to Corbett, a Republican who opposes
same-sex "marriage".
He
and Kane were both named in a lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday
seeking to legalize same-sex "marriage" in Pennsylvania and require the
state to recognize the "marriages" of same-sex couples who wed in other
jurisdictions.
Corbett has not said whether he will fight the lawsuit, but his general counsel, James Schultz, attacked Kane in a statement.
"We
are surprised that the attorney general, contrary to her constitutional
duty ... has decided not to defend a Pennsylvania statute lawfully
enacted by the General Assembly, merely because of her personal beliefs," Schultz said.
Longtime
lawyers for the state Legislature said they could not think of another
time when an attorney general refused to defend a state law because they
questioned its constitutionality. Meanwhile, House Speaker Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, and 23 other House Republicans
issued a letter to Kane, saying they were troubled by her decision and
urged her to reconsider. Still, Senate Republican leaders were quiet and
no one issued an immediate threat to seek a court order forcing Kane to
defend the lawsuit.
Under
Pennsylvania law, it is the attorney general's duty to defend the
constitutionality of state laws. But the law also says the attorney
general may allow lawyers for the governor's office or executive-branch
agencies to defend a lawsuit if it is more efficient or in the state's
best interests.
Kane
argued in a separate statement that professional conduct rules make it
an "ethical" obligation to withdraw from a case in which a lawyer has a
fundamental disagreement with the client.
The Office of General Counsel,
which is under the governor, is accustomed to handling the state's
legal affairs and routinely hires outside lawyers to either defend state
laws or prosecute lawsuits.
For
instance, the office is helping in the defense of Pennsylvania's
year-old voter identification law and it handled Corbett's anti-trust
lawsuit, now thrown out of federal court, seeking to undo the NCAA sanctions against Penn State relating to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
Pennsylvania
is the only northeastern state that does not allow same-sex "marriage" or
"civil unions", and Kane's stance is unlikely to change opinions in a
Republican-controlled Legislature where resolutions to insert a
constitutional ban on same-sex "marriages" have made more progress in
recent years than bills to legalize them.
The state Republican and Democratic parties quickly tangled over Kane's position. GOP chairman Rob Gleason attacked Kane as "blatantly politicizing" the attorney general's office, while Democratic Party chairman Jim Burn applauded her "courageous and firm stand against a law with little merit."
Trends in Pennsylvania show increasing support for same-sex "marriage". A January poll by Quinnipiac University
of 1,221 registered voters found 47 percent support it and 43 percent
oppose it, with voters ages 18 to 34 supporting it, 68 percent to 25
percent.
Lawyers
in the case believe it is ultimately bound for the U.S. Supreme Court,
probably along with similar cases in other states, and could force the
high court to rule on the core question of whether it is
unconstitutional to deny same-sex "couples" the "right" to "marry".
It
was not, however, prompted by the high court's pair of decisions three
weeks ago that delivered two victories for same-sex "marriage" supporters.
Pennsylvania's
1996 state law defines marriage as a civil contract in which a man and a
woman take each other as husband and wife. The state also does not
allow civil unions or recognize same-sex "marriages" from other states
where it is legal.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which is co-counsel in the lawsuit, welcomed the decision.
"This is a huge boost," said Pennsylvania staff attorney Mary Catherine Roper.
"You've got the chief law enforcement officer of the commonwealth
saying, 'You're right. This is not legal.' I think it's a sign that
things are changing."
The
plaintiffs in the lawsuit are a "widow" of a woman who died in May after
they were legally "married" in Massachusetts, 10 "couples" and one of the
"couples"' two teenage "daughters". The group includes four "couples" who were
legally married in other states. Same-sex "marriage" is legal or soon
will be in 13 states.
