ADF Senior Counsel Jorand Lorence promises a vigorous defense of federal DOMA

03/09/09 ADF Alliance Alert:

Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence participated in oral arguments in Lockyer v. City and County of San Francisco, 33 Cal. 4th 1055. In that case, the California Supreme Court ruled that San Francisco public officials unlawfully issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but did not address the constitutionality of same-sex marriages - a question that the Court decided in In re Marriage Cases, 43 Cal. 4th 757 (2008).

In this video clip, Lorence promises a "vigorous defense" of the federal DOMA in the recent Massachusetts Federal District Court challenge, on grounds that Californians will quickly recognize. Just as ADF could not trust former California Attorney General Bill Lockyer to adequately defend California's DOMA (Prop. 22), so ADF can not trust President Obama's Justice Department to adequately defend the federal DOMA in the Massachusetts case.

(Incidentally, although Lorence says that he is in California to attend the oral arguments, the video backdrop bears no resemblance to San Francisco!)