Ted Olson has called on the Obama
administration to file an amicus brief before the Supreme Court in
the upcoming Prop 8 case.
The high court on Friday announced it
would hear two cases related to marriage equality: a case challenging
the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and another challenging
Proposition 8, California's 2008 voter-approved constitutional
amendment banning gay nuptials.
(Related: Supreme
Court to hear gay marriage-related Prop 8, DOMA cases.)
The Department of Justice (DOJ) last
year refused to defend DOMA in court, saying it had concluded that
the law was unconstitutional. However, the administration has never
weighed in on Prop 8.
“I would hate to predict what the
United States government is doing, but given the stand the president
of the United States and the attorney general of the United States
made with respect to marriage equality, we would certainly hope that
they would participate,” Olson said in a conference call on Friday.
“And I'm quite confident that if they did participate, they would
support our position in this case because the denial of equal rights
is subject to close scrutiny by the courts and cannot withstand that
scrutiny.”
Richard Socarides, a former adviser to
President Bill Clinton, told POLITICO
that “there will be pressure for the Justice Department to weigh in
on the Prop 8 case.”
“I think this federalizes the issue
much more quickly than the White House would have liked and may force
them to take a position earlier than they would have liked,” he
added.
White House and DOJ spokespersons have
repeatedly declined to comment on the case.