$520 is a princely sum to pay for an hour’s worth of work. What kind of person would be due such a rich financial reward?
The public employees, like firefighters and teachers, that are so roundly condemned by conservative politicians as overpaid and ungrateful? Of course not…
How about an executive at one of the many American corporations earning massive profits and paying out lavish compensation? Probably, but that’s another story…
How about you, Joe/Jane Taxpayer, paying $520 per hour to a high-priced Washington law firm to defend a law quite probably on the path to being declared unconstitutional and widely criticized as discriminatory and un-American? That’s right!
Thanks to House Speaker John Boehner, who decided earlier this year to mount a legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act when the Obama Justice Department announced it would not do so, taxpayers are going to foot the bill for George W. Bush’s former Solicitor General Paul Clement and his well-connected firm to take over the efforts to defend the numerous challenges to DOMA.
Democrats have labeled Boehner’s pricey decision “hypocrisy.”
The contract stipulates the outrageous rate of $520 per hour, with a “limit” of no more than $500,000. But that figure could change if the contract is renewed, and Speaker Boehner’s office has refused to speculate as to the total cost of the move. Boehner and House Republicans want the money taken out of the Justice Department’s overall budget, but that may not even be legal.
The Harvard-educated private attorney tapped by House Republicans to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court will cost taxpayers $520 per hour, according to a copy of the legal services contract reviewed by ABC News.
House Speaker John Boehner appointed Paul D. Clement, former Solicitor General for George W. Bush, to the job Monday, nearly two months after the Justice Department said its lawyers would no longer defend DOMA in court.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department concluded that laws treating gays and lesbians differently deserve a heightened form of legal scrutiny, which, in turn, would result in finding the law unconstitutional.
Under the arrangement with the U.S. House of Representatives, Clement will now be “principally responsible” for arguing on behalf of the 1996 law in at least 12 pending cases challenging its constitutionality. But a “substantial portion” of the legal work will be done by two of Clement’s associates from the law firm King & Spalding, Daryl Joseffer and Jeffrey Bucholtz.
The contract says the government will not spend more than $500,000 total for all legal services performed in defense of the law. But it does not rule out a new contract if the ceiling is reached.
The cost of defending DOMA, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman for federal purposes, has drawn fire from Democrats who say Republicans are spending taxpayer dollars unnecessarily.
“The hypocrisy of this legal boondoggle is mind-blowing,” said Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. “If Republicans were really interested in cutting spending, this should be at the top of the list.”
But Republicans insist that the Obama administration has created the predicament by not following precedent in defending an established law, whether they support it or not.
Boehner indicated in a letter Monday to Pelosi that he intends to offset the cost of a private counsel with reductions from the Justice Department’s budget.
“It is my intent that those funds be diverted to the House for reimbursement of any costs incurred by and associated with the House, and not DOJ, defending DOMA,” Boehner wrote.
The 15-year-old Defense of Marriage Act has been controversial since it was signed by President Bill Clinton. It’s purpose is to allow individual states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, and creates a “definition” of marriage that is limited and discriminatory in nature. Many legal experts and same sex marriage activists have concluded DOMA is unconstitutional, which is why it is facing so many legal challenges as to need a $520-per-hour budget to defend it.
The uproar over Boehner’s decision to launch a Republican defense of DOMA comes as many Americans are beginning to fully embrace the notion of marriage equality. Gay marriage – and knee-jerk opposition to it – is quickly fading as one of the proverbial “hot button” issues marked by pundits and politicos as an important factor in American politics .
A recent CNN poll found that a new high of 51 percent of Americans say they support same sex marriage and believe that gay marriages “should be recognized by the law as valid.”
There is a well known adage about beating dead horses that apply here. I’m sure that if the Republican party had not chosen homophobia as a wedge issue to help gather votes, and Obama was defending DOMA, the Republicans would be all over him for wasting money fighting a losing battle. That’s actually why the Obama administration is not defending it, they’ve seen the writing on the walls and know it’s eventually going to be shot down.
I like this plan. Next let’s refuse to fight the battles in Afraqistan and give the money to Congress so they can go fight it themselves.
So this is the one job the Republicans have created?! A lawyer at $520 an hour for up to half a million taxpayer dollars in costs?
Since they are “defending” the “Defense” of Marriage Act (what an act!), Boehner might want to try attaching a rider to a Defense appropriations bill to get financing. He’d better hurry – DADT is almost repealed.