Editing Defense of Marriage Act (section)

===Obama administration===
President [[Barack Obama]]'s 2008 [[political platform]] endorsed the repeal of DOMA.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/lgbt.pdf |title=Barack Obama on LGBT Rights |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217232401/http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/lgbt.pdf |archive-date=December 17, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/alexokrent/gGggJS |title=Open Letter from Barack Obama Concerning LGBT Equality |access-date=May 7, 2009 |archive-date=May 8, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090508195429/http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/alexokrent/gGggJS |url-status=dead }}</ref> On June 12, 2009, the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] issued a brief defending the constitutionality of DOMA in the case of ''[[Smelt v. United States]]'', continuing its longstanding practice of defending all federal laws challenged in court.<ref name="obamaadmin">{{cite news|date=June 12, 2009|title=Obama Admin Moves To Dismiss Defense Of Marriage Act Challenge|work=Huffington Post|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/12/obama-defends-antigay-def_n_214764.html|url-status=usurped|access-date=June 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614064558/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/12/obama-defends-antigay-def_n_214764.html|archive-date=June 14, 2009}}</ref> On June 15, 2009, [[Human Rights Campaign]] President [[Joe Solmonese]] wrote an open letter to Obama that asked for actions to balance the DOJ's courtroom position: "We call on you to put your principles into action and send legislation repealing DOMA to Congress."<ref>{{cite web |first=Joe |last=Solmonese |date=June 15, 2009 |url=http://www.hrcbackstory.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Solmonese-letter-to-Obama-re-DOMA-brief-June-15-2009.pdf |title=Open Letter to President Obama |publisher=Human Rights Campaign |access-date=September 7, 2009 |archive-date=October 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017091521/http://www.hrcbackstory.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Solmonese-letter-to-Obama-re-DOMA-brief-June-15-2009.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> A representative of [[Lambda Legal]], an LGBT [[impact litigation]] and advocacy organization, noted that the Obama administration's legal arguments omitted the Bush administration's assertion that households headed by opposite-sex spouses were better at raising children than those headed by same-sex spouses.<ref name=obamaadmin />

On February 23, 2011, [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[Eric Holder]] released a statement regarding lawsuits challenging DOMA Section 3. He wrote:<ref name=holder/>

<blockquote>After careful consideration, including a review of my recommendation, the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny. The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases.</blockquote>

He also announced that although it was no longer defending Section 3 in court, the administration intended to continue to enforce the law "unless and until Congress repeals Section 3 or the judicial branch renders a definitive verdict against the law's constitutionality."<ref name=holder/>

In a separate letter to [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] [[John Boehner]], Holder noted that Congress could participate in these lawsuits.<ref name=HolderLetter>{{cite web |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/letter-attorney-general-congress-litigation-involving-defense-marriage-act  |title=Letter from the Attorney General to Congress on Litigation Involving the Defense of Marriage Act|date=February 23, 2011 |access-date=June 26, 2015}}</ref>

On February 24, the Department of Justice notified the [[United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit|First Circuit Court of Appeals]] that it would "cease to defend" ''[[Gill v. Office of Personnel Management|Gill]]'' and ''[[Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services|Massachusetts]]'' as well.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=GLAD |url=http://www.glad.org/uploads/docs/cases/gill-v-office-of-personnel-management/doj-letter-re-ma-doma-cases-02-2011.pdf |title=Letter of Tony West, Assistant Attorney General, to United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit |date=February 24, 2011 |access-date=February 28, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724135920/http://www.glad.org/uploads/docs/cases/gill-v-office-of-personnel-management/doj-letter-re-ma-doma-cases-02-2011.pdf |archive-date=July 24, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> On July 1, 2011, the DOJ, with a filing in ''Golinski'', intervened for the first time on behalf of a plaintiff seeking to have DOMA Section 3 ruled unconstitutional, arguing that laws that use sexual orientation as a classification need to pass the court's [[intermediate scrutiny]] standard of review.<ref name=dojgol /> The DOJ made similar arguments in a filing in ''Gill'' on July 7.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=GLAD |url=http://www.glad.org/uploads/docs/cases/gill-v-office-of-personnel-management/2011-07-07-doj-on-en-banc.pdf |title=DOJ Support of Petition for En Banc Review |date=July 7, 2011 |access-date=July 12, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110803213657/http://www.glad.org/uploads/docs/cases/gill-v-office-of-personnel-management/2011-07-07-doj-on-en-banc.pdf |archive-date=August 3, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

In June 2012, filing an [[amicus curiae|amicus brief]] in ''Golinski'', two former Republican Attorneys General, [[Edwin Meese]] and [[John Ashcroft]], called the DOJ's decision not to defend DOMA Section 3 "an unprecedented and ill-advised departure from over two centuries of Executive Branch practice" and "an extreme and unprecedented deviation from the historical norm".<ref>{{cite web|work=Metro Weekly |url=http://www.metroweekly.com/poliglot/2012/06/former-ags-meese-ashcroft-call.html |first=Chris |last=Geidner |title=Former AGs Meese, Ashcroft Call Obama Move on DOMA 'Extreme' in Appeals Court Filing |date=June 11, 2012 |access-date=June 12, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617190007/http://www.metroweekly.com/poliglot/2012/06/former-ags-meese-ashcroft-call.html |archive-date=June 17, 2012 |df=mdy }}</ref>