IN OUR CONTINUING SERIES: IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHO IS PAYING, IT'S LIKELY IT'S YOU
So far, my research is turning up that it has to be the two legal offices of the Congress who will become funded/responsible for being a party to any appeal(s) of DOMA actions.
However, I have to say, it does look like individual Congresscritters might have wiggle room to intervene and that could mean that they could hire ADF, PJI, or some other polarizing legal group. It's not clear, however, that they could use taxpayer dollars to do so, if they chose to intervene in this way; but there is no class of people more ingenious than the Congress when it comes to spending other people's money, so I'll bet they find a way and later that way is declared unethical after-the-fact.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Can Congress Put Taxpayer Dollars into Private Lawfirms to "Defend DOMA"?
More to come, no doubt, by those with far more resources to research this than I have ...
It does seem that both houses of Congress can intervene independently of another, too. Again, consider that speculative, but so far, that interpretation seems to fit. It's not clear whether any voting is required to commit the time/resources to becoming involved.
[No information whether any litigants are excluded, based on their representation in other lawsuits.]
