Editing Defense of Marriage Act (section)

===Congressional intervention===
On March 4, 2011, Boehner announced that the [[Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group]] (BLAG) would convene to consider whether the House of Representatives should defend DOMA Section 3 in place of the Department of Justice,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/03/04/134268656/boehner-house-will-defend-doma-courts-not-obama-should-decide |title=Boehner: House Will Defend DOMA; Courts, Not Obama, Should Decide |publisher=[[National Public Radio]] |date=March 4, 2011 |access-date=March 4, 2011}}</ref><ref name="congressdefense">{{cite news |publisher=FOX News |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/boehner-launches-effort-to-defend-gay-marriage-ban/ |title=Boehner Launches Effort to Defend Gay Marriage Ban |date=March 4, 2011 |access-date=February 8, 2012}}</ref> and on March 9 the committee voted 3–2 to do so.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/2chambers/2011/03/house_to_defend_the_defense_of.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112034744/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/2chambers/2011/03/house_to_defend_the_defense_of.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 12, 2012|date=March 9, 2011|title=House to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court |first=Felicia |last=Sonmez |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

On April 18, 2011, House leaders announced the selection of former United States Solicitor General [[Paul Clement]] to represent BLAG.<ref>{{cite web |work=AmLawDaily |url=http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2011/04/clement-fights-same-sex-marriage.html |first=Ross |last=Todd |title=King & Spalding's Clement to Fight Against Same-Sex Marriage |date=April 18, 2012 |access-date=February 8, 2012}}</ref>    Clement, without opposition from other parties to the case, filed a motion to be allowed to intervene in the suit "for the limited purpose of defending the constitutionality of Section III" of DOMA.<ref>{{cite web |work=Metro Weekly |url=http://www.metroweekly.com/poliglot/2011/04/house-leadership-seeks-to-inte.html |first=Chris |last=Geidner |title=House Leadership Seeks to Intervene in DOMA Case |date=April 18, 2011 |access-date=April 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110425041913/http://www.metroweekly.com/poliglot/2011/04/house-leadership-seeks-to-inte.html |archive-date=April 25, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>''Windsor v. United States'', [http://metroweekly.com/poliglot/Windsor-BLAGIntervention.pdf Unopposed Motion of the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of Representatives to Intervene for a Limited Purpose] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110920005537/http://metroweekly.com/poliglot/Windsor-BLAGIntervention.pdf |date=September 20, 2011 }}. Retrieved April 19, 2011.</ref> On April 25, 2011, [[King & Spalding]], the [[law firm]] through which Clement was handling the case, announced it was dropping the case. On the same day, Clement resigned from King & Spalding in protest and joined [[Bancroft PLLC]], which took on the case.<ref>{{cite news |title=GOP pushes on with marriage act defense after law firm backs out |first1=Russell |last1=Berman |first2=Daniel |last2=Strauss |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/89461-gop-pushes-on-with-marriage-act-defense-after-law-firm-backs-out/ |newspaper=The Hill |location=Washington, D.C. |issn=1521-1568 |oclc=31153202 |date=April 25, 2011 |access-date=November 13, 2011}}</ref> The House's initial contract with Clement capped legal fees at $500,000,<ref>{{cite news |title=Price tag on House defense of DOMA: $500k |url=http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/19/6497555-price-tag-on-house-defense-of-doma-500k |work=[[MSNBC]] |date=April 20, 2011 |access-date=April 27, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423042221/http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/19/6497555-price-tag-on-house-defense-of-doma-500k |archive-date=April 23, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> but on September 30 a revised contract raised the cap to $1.5&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/house-raises-salary-cap-for-doma-lawyer-to-15-million/2011/10/04/gIQAL8biLL_blog.html |date=October 4, 2011 |title=House raises salary cap for DOMA lawyer to $1.5 million |first=Felicia |last=Sonmez |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> A spokesman for Boehner explained that BLAG would not appeal in all cases, citing bankruptcy cases that are "unlikely to provide the path to the Supreme Court....[E]ffectively defending [DOMA] does not require the House to intervene in every case, especially when doing so would be prohibitively expensive."<ref>{{cite news |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/us/politics/15bankruptcy.html |first=John |last=Schwartz |title=A California Bankruptcy Court Rejects U.S. Law Barring Same-Sex Marriage |date=June 14, 2011 |access-date=February 13, 2012}}</ref>