Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain wants President Barack Obama impeached over his refusal to defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the law that forbids federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples, POLITICO.com reported.

Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, said during a conference call with reporters that the administration's position on DOMA was an impeachable offense.

“That's a great question and it is a great – it would be a great thing to do but because the Senate is controlled by Democrats we would never be able to get the Senate first to take up that action, because they simply don't care what the American public thinks. They would protect him and they wouldn't even bring it up,” Cain said.

He added: “So the main stumbling block in terms of getting him impeached on a whole list of things such as trying to pass a health care mandate which is unconstitutional, ordering the Department of Justice to not enforce the Defense of Marriage Act – that's an impeachable offense right there. The president is supposed to uphold the laws of this nation … and to tell the Department of Justice not to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act is a breach of his oath. … There are a number of things where a case could be made in order to impeach him, but because Republicans do not control the United States Senate, they would never allow it to get off the ground.”