FRC Requests Communications About DoMA From DOJ Under Freedom of Information Act

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Mar 01, 2011, 04:27 ET

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting records of communications regarding same-sex marriage litigation or policy discussion between DOJ and the law firms Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP; the American Foundation for Equal Rights and any public interest organization involved in political or legal opposition to either Proposition 8 or the Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA). This request was sent under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

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In the letter, FRC President Tony Perkins wrote:

"Less than three hours after Attorney General Holder's announcement, litigants seeking to strike down California's traditional marriage definition enacted by Proposition 8 filed a 'Motion to Vacate Stay' in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On pages 7 of 23 and 10 of 23 the Motion cited to and quoted from the Attorney General Letter.

"As the president of the Family Research Council (FRC), an organization that has filed amicus briefs defending both Proposition 8 and DoMA, I am troubled by the lightning-fast integration of concepts and actual language from the Attorney General Letter into the Motion to Vacate Stay. Let me repeat: the Motion was filed within two-and-one-half hours of Attorney General's press conference. Consequently, I am deeply concerned that officials at the Department of Justice were collaborating with the litigants in the Proposition 8 case. Even the appearance of collusion between the Department of Justice and litigants is highly damaging to the rule of law in America."

To read the letter in its entirety, click here: http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF11C01.pdf

SOURCE Family Research Council