HRC: Former Republican Solicitor General Will Defend Discrimination for House Republican Leadership

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 18, 2011
Michael Cole-Schwartz

Former Republican Solicitor General Will Defend Discrimination for House Republican Leadership

Speaker Boehner goes to great lengths in hiring Paul Clement to defend DOMA

WASHINGTON – Today the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, strongly criticized the House Republican leadership for taking on former Republican Solicitor General Paul Clement as counsel to defend the clearly discriminatory and unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court. Clement served under President George W. Bush as the government’s lawyer before the Supreme Court and currently works as a partner at the firm King & Spaulding.

“Not only are House Republican leaders defending the indefensible, they’ve brought in a high priced attorney to deny federal recognition to loving, married couples,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Speaker Boehner appears ready to go to great lengths, and the great expense of a high-power law firm, to try to score some cheap political points on the backs of same-sex couples. King & Spaulding were not required to take up this defense and should be ashamed of associating themselves with an effort to deny rights to their fellow citizens.”

Earlier today, Speaker Boehner released a letter he sent to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in which he endorsed a right-wing plan to defund part of the Department of Justice because of the Obama Administration’s thoughtful analysis that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.

“With such a high-priced lawyer, it’s no wonder the Speaker is grasping at straws in order to justify spending taxpayer money on defending discrimination,” said Solmonese. “Next he’ll probably call for slashing Education Department funding because kids might learn it’s unconstitutional to discriminate against certain groups of people.”

According to a March 2011 poll conducted by HRC and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 51 percent of voters opposed DOMA and 54 percent opposed the House Republican’s intervention in cases challenging its constitutionality.

“With the American people clamoring for leaders to deal with the economy, voters are no doubt scratching their heads wondering how a boondoggle for right-wing lawyers is going to help their pocketbooks,” said Solmonese

With the House intervention in this case, a number of important questions remain unanswered by House Republican Leaders:

· There are as many as nine lawsuits in federal court challenging the constitutionality of Section 3 of DOMA. Will House Republicans intervene in all of these lawsuits?

· Now that the House has retained Clement, has a conflict and ethics check been conducted? Will the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group be consulted on strategic decisions related to the litigation?

· How much taxpayer money will this all cost?

· What will the House argue in defending DOMA? Will they go back to Congress’s 1996 arguments for passing the law – that it is necessary because marriage equality is “a radical, untested and inherently flawed social experiment” and contrary to the “moral conviction that heterosexuality better comports with traditional (especially Judeo-Christian) morality”?

· The Justice Department stopped defending DOMA because they concluded that laws that discriminate based on sexual orientation should receive a higher level of scrutiny by courts. Will the House Republican leaders disagree? If so, will they argue that gays and lesbians have not suffered a long history of discrimination? That sexual orientation is somehow relevant to an individual’s ability to contribute to society, when they have four openly-gay colleagues? That gays and lesbians can change their sexual orientation, a position at odds with every major psychological organization? That gays and lesbians are politically powerful, ironically in defending a law passed by Congress specifically to disadvantage them?

· Do they think they’ll win, especially given that in two DOMA-related cases in Massachusetts, a federal judge appointed by President Nixon has already found Section 3 of DOMA to be unconstitutional even under the lowest level of scrutiny that gives great deference to the legislature?

· Apart from these cases, will Republican House leadership do anything to address the inequalities that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face?

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 18, 2011

HRC to Law Firm King & Spalding: Defense of Discriminatory DOMA Law is “Shameful”

Standing up for discrimination is a stain on firm’s reputation

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, today called the decision of the law firm King & Spalding to take up the House Republican leadership’s defense of the Defense of Marriage Act a shameful stain on the firm’s reputation. Earlier today it was revealed that firm partner Paul Clement would represent House leaders in their quest to preserve discrimination against loving married couples.

“The firm of King & Spalding has brought a shameful stain on its reputation in arguing for discrimination against loving, married couples,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “No amount of taxpayer money they rake in will mitigate this blemish on the King & Spalding name.”

Reports indicate that Clement’s hourly fees could top $1000, making his role in defending DOMA a pricy proposition. In fact, it has been reported that Clement received a $5 million signing bonus at the firm, showing just how expensive this kind of representation is. Given that there are as many as nine lawsuits in federal court challenging the constitutionality of Section 3 of DOMA, the bill to taxpayers could reach the tens of millions of dollars.

“Now we know why Speaker Boehner signed on to the right-wing plan this morning to strip money from the Justice Department to defend DOMA. The price tag for this elite representation is going to be staggering and he’s got to try and find the money somewhere,” said Solmonese. “This move is a jobs plan solely for high-priced lawyers bent on defending discrimination.”

King & Spalding had most recently scored a 95 percent on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index – a measure of a company’s workplace policies and practices as they relate to their LGBT employees. On the firm’s own website they even promote their LGBT diversity initiatives: www.kslaw.com/About-Us/Diversity/LGBT. Last month, HRC sent a letter to the nation’s largest law firms urging them not to take up DOMA’s defense (http://bit.ly/fConJn). Noting that the legal sector has the largest number of top-scoring companies in HRC’s corporate ratings, Solmonese wrote: “It is critical that your organization not undermine that laudable record by representing the House in its defense of this discriminatory and unconstitutional law, which denies loving gay and lesbian couples the fair and equal treatment that they deserve from their federal government.”

“In taking up DOMA’s defense, the firm is aiding and abetting an effort to score cheap political points on the backs of same-sex couples,” said Solmonese. “King & Spalding was not required to take up this defense and should be ashamed of associating themselves with an effort to deny rights to their fellow citizens.”

Many unanswered questions remain with the news of King & Spalding’s involvement, including:

· What will the price tag be for this defense and will the House pay the full rate of the firm’s services? If the House pays a discounted rate, how does King & Spalding explain to its clients and LGBT employees that it is subsidizing the defense of this a discriminatory law?

· Will House leaders or the firm disclose the terms of the contract?

· The firm is registered to lobby on Capitol Hill and has spent millions on lobbying efforts. Could the firm be taking this case as a way to garner favor with House leaders for their clients and what kind of ethical conflicts does this raise?

· Does the firm have internal guidelines that prevent it from taking cases that defend the second-class status of some citizens? Were the guidelines followed?

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

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