David French: “Presidents and Constitutionality: Thinking Through the DOMA Decision”

David French writes at National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: “The outrage of the administration’s DOMA decision comes not from articulating this principle but from its declaration that, essentially, there are no reasonable constitutional arguments in support of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. This is a truly astonishing assertion given the great weight of legal authority — some of which is outlined in the attorney general’s own letter. In fact, that political (rather than legal) calculation underlying this determination is given away by the administration’s continued enforcement in spite of its alleged conviction that the act has no reasonable constitutional support.”