Justice Department Informs Appeals Court It Will Continue To Defend Defense Of Marriage Act Until It Is Struck Down Or Repealed

The Associated Press is reporting that Monday, the Justice Department says a lesbian federal employee should still be denied permission to add her wife to her health insurance despite the Obama administration's refusal to defend a federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriages, government attorneys telling a federal judge in San Francisco that the administration will still enforce the Defense of Marriage Act until it is struck down by a court or repealed by Congress. They say its new position on the act's unconstitutionality is irrelevant. Karen Golinski is a Ninth United State Circuit Court of Appeals lawyer suing the Office of Personnel Management for denying the authorization of family health coverage for her wife. The circuit's chief judge has twice ordered the office to allow it. The Justice Department says the rulings were not binding because they were made in the judge's role as Golinski's superior.