President Obama's surprise decision to stop enforcing part of the Defense of Marriage Act was part of a campaign by gay groups to change his mind, reports Daniel Stone.
President Obama was in the Oval Office, poring over a stack of legal memos.
Related story on The Daily Beast: No Japan Effect: Steven Chu's Plan for Clean and Safe Energy in America
It was several days before the announcement that the administration would no longer vouch for part of the Defense of Marriage Act, and the former constitutional law professor was reviewing the arguments before the Justice Department for an upcoming Massachusetts case.
With top staffers more concerned with the political impact of halting prosecutions under the marriage law-and whether it would complicate negotiations with Republicans about avoiding a government shutdown-Obama summoned his senior advisers to a meeting. It might not be pretty, he told them, "but it's the right thing to do.
President Obama was in the Oval Office, poring over a stack of legal memos.
Related story on The Daily Beast: No Japan Effect: Steven Chu's Plan for Clean and Safe Energy in America
It was several days before the announcement that the administration would no longer vouch for part of the Defense of Marriage Act, and the former constitutional law professor was reviewing the arguments before the Justice Department for an upcoming Massachusetts case.
With top staffers more concerned with the political impact of halting prosecutions under the marriage law-and whether it would complicate negotiations with Republicans about avoiding a government shutdown-Obama summoned his senior advisers to a meeting. It might not be pretty, he told them, "but it's the right thing to do.
- 3/6/2011
- by Daniel Stone
- The Daily Beast
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