House Republicans are willing to shell out as much as $500,000 to defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that denies key benefits to same-sex couples by defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
The law, known as DOMA, is being challenged by a Connecticut couple and other plaintiffs. The U.S. Department of Justice had been defending the law, but after a review, Attorney General Eric Holder said the Administration would pull out of the case. Holder said the Justice Department had concluded the law was unconstitutional.
So House Republicans have taken up the legal mantle. And according to this Politico report, they’ve agreed to pay an outside lawyer $520 per hour, up to $500,000, to press their case that the law should stand.