House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Wednesday defended his party’s decision to spend nearly $3 million in defending the Defense of Marriage Act, which the Supreme Court struck down earlier today.
“Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis and President Clinton signed it into law,” he said in a statement. “The House intervened in this case because the constitutionality of a law should be judged by the Court, not by the president unilaterally. While I am obviously disappointed in the ruling, it is always critical that we protect our system of checks and balances. A robust national debate over marriage will continue in the public square, and it is my hope that states will define marriage as the union between one man and one woman.”
