Just what is it about the rule of law that President Obama doesn’t get?
The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it now believes the federal Defense of Marriage Act — which defines marriage as being a legal union between one man and one woman — is unconstitutional, and said it will no longer defend the law in court.
So, just like that, Obama & Co. effectively declare null a law duly passed by Congress, signed by a previous president — and presumptively binding on the government until either the courts or Congress declare otherwise.
It’s a breathtaking act of arrogance, a precedent so fraught that it threatens one of the nation’s bedrock founding principles: That America was to be ruled by law, not by individuals.
Presidents have found particular laws vexatious for as long as there have been presidents.
Still, when Franklin Roosevelt decided he didn’t like legislation forced on him by Congress, he had sufficient respect for the law itself to attempt to pack the Supreme Court with friendly justices.
He lost.
He should have.
And it’s not as if Obama, et al., don’t understand the basic issue: Last October, the administration got it right in similar circumstances.
While disagreeing with the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law blocking gays from serving openly in the military — and despite objections from his left-wing base — the president declared that he was obliged to follow and defend the law.
He added that he wanted DADT repealed by Congress rather than by the courts — which is exactly what happened two months later.
But now this.
It’s hard to see anything other than politics driving the announcement: Obama is pandering to his lefty base, because the newly Republican House won’t be doing away with DOMA on its own.
It’s a dangerous game.
What happens if — a few years from now, should ObamaCare finally be fully installed as the law of the land — a different president deems that law unconstitutional and refuses to defend it?
That president could just point to Obama’s DOMA precedent — and would he be wrong? Precedent matters, after all.
Not that Obama seems to care.