GAY MARRIAGE

House GOP: $3M in DOMA Defense

Attorneys to fight for ban on gay marriage.

Washington’s learned the hard way: it isn’t over until the House Republicans say so. On Tuesday, House GOP leaders signed a nearly $3 million legal contract to keep defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a law that defines marriage as a union between a woman and a man. The move essentially employs pro-DOMA attorneys, through taxpayer dollars, to take on cases of same-sex marriage in court. House Republicans initially took up the cause in 2011, when Attorney General Eric Holder announced that President Obama found the law unconstitutional. DOMA—which was passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993—denies federal recognition of same-sex marriages.