With the polls turning against him, and the Republican base lacking the
enthusiasm needed to maintain Republican control of the house, Speaker John
Boehner has made it clear that he will have the House of Representatives legal council file a petition to have the case Massachusetts v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services argued before the court this fall just before the election. In the legal equivalent of a Hail Mary, Boehner is attempting to have four prior decisions overturned in order to maintain his authority to discriminate against same-sex couples by denying them any federal benefits of wedlock. As one of those decisions was handled by the very strict First Circuit Appellate court, and history demonstrates that the Supreme Court rarely disagrees with this circuit, this is a clear attempt by the Speaker to politicize the debate and attempt to induce excitement into their base using their classic strategy of "God, Gays and Guns."
The original decision, that the Defense of Marriage Act, was a violation of the Constitution, has been upheld throughout the legal chain that had led it to this point. At all points, the Republicans have been determined to spend vast sums of tax dollars attempting to overturn that decision. By his usurping the traditional legal process, which would have had this appearing before the Supreme Court in 2013, he reveals that the strategy for this is not about defending it at all, it is all about pandering to a select group of the Republican base just before the elections this November.
The Courts decision
would not come out until well after the election, by which point Boehner hopes
to have secured both houses of Congress as well as to place the parties rubber
stamp into the Presidency. At that point they can usurp the courts at their leisure,
regardless of the outcome. The naked political posturing displayed by Boehner
is beneath the office which he is holding. He should be ashamed of himself, but
likely is not.
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My Thoughts: This action by Speaker Boehner and the upcoming vote to hold AG Eric Holder in Contempt of Congress are orchestrated maneuvers to take the focus of the election away from the economic problems that still effect us, the Republicans obstruction of all the efforts by Pres. Obama to speed up the recovery and an underlying motive to prove that a black president can't be trusted, he is as corrupt as all black males. You hear the words "He's the most corrupt president we have ever had in America." "He has done nothing in the first two years when he had control of both houses." Even though in 2010 his immigration bill was passed by the House and by 55 votes in the senate, the minority Republicans filibustered the bill which caused it to fail in a procedural process, even with the majority voting in favor. In 2011 his jobs bill stalled in the Republican controlled House of Representative. Speaker Boehner would not even bring it to the floor to vote on it. The Senate Democrats had to pick it apart and try to get a few of the items that were very urgent through both houses, with only a few of the bill passing both with major modifications that weakened them.
