Thursday, July 11, 2013
Pennsylvania AG refuses to contest same-sex marriage case, Hawaii continues its opposition
by Larry Geller
The Pennsylvania attorney general refused on Thursday to fight a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage.
[The Guardian (UK), Pennsylvania attorney general refuses to defend state in gay marriage ban case, 7/11/2013]
Meanwhile, the Hawaii attorney general continues to defend the state against a lawsuit challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Read about the case here. The Hawaii case is perhaps unusual in that both the Governor and the Department of Health were sued, and the Governor said he would not defend the law. Still, his AG is defending it on behalf of the state (the DOH).
The AG’s office has said in this case and in the past that it can separate itself into parts without conflict of interest, which is questionable in my mind. We, the public, do not know what instructions the deputies have been given, nor if there would be consequences if the wrong clone wins.
In Hawaii’s case, the clean thing to do would be to declare that it is state policy not to oppose the suit. Instead, effectively, the Governor gets to earn points while the state continues to fight the suit anyway.
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