AG won't defend gay marriage ban
PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania’s elected attorney general said Thursday that she will not defend a 17-year-old state law effectively banning same-sex marriage from a legal challenge in federal court, meaning the task will be left up to Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.
In a brief statement to reporters and a small crowd of supporters at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Democratic Attorney General Kathleen Kane said she can’t ethically defend the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s marriage law and she believes it to be unconstitutional.
Kane, who supports same-sex marriage, said the state and U.S. constitutions stress equal protection under the law. The job of defending the law falls to Corbett, who opposes same-sex marriage.
Corbett and Kane were named in a lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday seeking to legalize same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania.
Corbett has not said whether he will fight the lawsuit, but his general counsel, James Schultz, attacked Kane in a statement.
“We are surprised that the attorney general, contrary to her constitutional duty ... has decided not to defend a Pennsylvania statute lawfully enacted by the General Assembly, merely because of her personal beliefs,” he said.
House Speaker Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, and 23 other House Republicans issued a letter to Kane, saying they were troubled by her decision and urged her to reconsider. Still, Senate Republican leaders were quiet and no one issued an immediate threat to seek a court order forcing Kane to defend the lawsuit.
Under Pennsylvania law, it is the attorney general’s duty to defend the constitutionality of state laws. But the law also says the attorney general may allow lawyers for the governor’s office or executive branch agencies to defend a lawsuit if it’s more efficient or in the state’s best interests.
