After the Obama administration announced that it would no longer defend in court the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (see prior posting), the U.S. House of Representatives hired former Solicitor General, Paul Clement, to defend the statute on behalf of Congress. (See prior posting.) Clement was a partner in the Atlanta firm of King and Spalding. The National Law Journal yesterday reported that King and Spalding, under pressure from the Human Rights Campaign, has withdrawn from representing House Republicans. Clement resigned in protest, saying in part: “I resign out of the firmly held belief that a representation should not be abandoned because the client’s legal position is extremely unpopular in certain quarters.” (Full text of resignation letter via Politco), Clement plans to continue to represent Congress, joining the Washington, D.C. Bancroft law firm in order to do so. Meanwhile, according to Main Justice, Attorney General Eric Holder defended Clement, saying: “In taking on representing Congress in Connection with DOMA, I think he was doing that which lawyers do when we are at our best.”
