Joe Davidson of the Washington Post reported late Monday that the Obama administration has done something gay-rights advocates believe is unprecedented: order coverage for the same-sex spouse of a federal employee:
A March 9 letter to Blue Cross Blue Shield, from Shirley Patterson, assistant director of federal employee insurance operations for the Office of Personnel Management, said that “OPM hereby withdraws any outstanding directive regarding the enrollment of Ms. Golinski’s wife, Amy C. Cunninghis, in her family health benefits plan.” OPM previously said the wife of Karen Golinski, a federal court employee in California, could not be covered.
Remember when the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was ruled to be unconstitutional back in February by U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White, a George W. Bush nominee? And when the Department of Justice refused to uphold the section of DOMA that defines "marriage" and "spouse" as only applicable to relationships of involving opposite-sex relationships? The Washington Post report notes that the connection between those two events and what happened Monday is unavoidable.
It's also, in its own way, a statement by the Obama administration for inherent rights, and against those who would have rights put up for a
Metro Weekly's Chris Geidner reports today on the next stage of the fight, which begins next week:
...House Republicans, through the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), have intervened in the challenges in order to continue the defense of the law. On April 4, Paul Clement, the former top appellate litigator for President George W. Bush, will argue on behalf of BLAG to defend the law to the three-judge panel. Clement and his firm, Bancroft PLLC, have been hired by BLAG to defend the 1996 law. This week, Clement is appearing before the Supreme Court representing the state attorneys general who are challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
Speaking of the Affordable Care Act, more on today's first arguments over the Affordable Care Act before the Supreme Court, in a separate post.