How Congress Could Defend DOMA in Court (and Why the BLAG Cannot)

Authors

• Matthew I. Hall, University of Georgia School of LawFollow

65 Stan. L. Rev. Online 92 (2013).

Originally uploaded at SSRN.

Abstract

In one of the most closely watched litigation matters in recent years, the Supreme Court will soon consider Edith Windsor's challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The Court surprised many observers by granting certiorari, not only on the merits of Windsor's equal protection and due process claims, but also on the question whether the defendants — the United States and the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the House of Representatives (the BLAG) — have Article III standing to defend DOMA. The United States has agreed with plaintiffs that DOMA is unconstitutional, prompting the BLAG to intervene for the purpose of defending DOMA’s constitutionality. No lower court has yet addressed whether the BLAG has standing, so the Supreme Court will have the first crack at the issue. But it turns out that the answer is straight-forward: Under settled precedent, the BLAG lacks authority to represent either the United States or Congress, and having claimed no interest of its own, it therefore lacks Article III standing. If the Court so holds — as it should — its decision will have repercussions for Edith Windsor and dozens of other litigants with DOMA cases pending in lower federal courts. And the Court’s handling of the standing question may also have enduring significance for the law of legislative standing and constitutional separation of powers.

Repository Citation

Matthew I. Hall, How Congress Could Defend DOMA in Court (and Why the BLAG Cannot) (2013),
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_artchop/891