This, of course, finally puts the nail in the coffin on the argument that DOJ is required to remain totally outside the realm and reality of the political world when litigating constitutional questions.
If President Obama thinks DOMA is discriminatory (which he has said) and if he believes it to be unconstitutional, (which is reasonable to assume), then there is no reason why Justice would not want to reflect the political reality of the administration under which they serve, concerning cases with enormous consitutional ramifications.
Apparently lawyers at Justice (and at OPM) have been rebuffing overtures from attorneys at both LAMBDA and GLAD since Obama's inauguration. GLAD has a very strong case coming down the pike involving eight married couples in MASS, who are suing the federal government, seeking to strike down the second clause of DOMA, the part that denies any federal recognition of couples who are legally married in their home states.
Justice refused repeatedly to meet with them and others.
As a result of shutting out these groups, we ended up with the Smelt brief. The nationwide furor over the DOJ brief in the gay community, and amongst their straight allies, set off a series of events that have culminated in the Justice Dept doing a complete about face and deciding to meet with the GLBT attorneys next week.
Hopefully, that meeting will begin the process of having Justice better reflect the political realities of the Obama administration. Obama says he wants DOMA overturned. There is no reason the lawyers at Justice, within, of course, the paramaters of their mandate, cannnot reflect that reality in future DOMA briefs that they will be filing in the next few weeks.
Another small step, but a positive one.
Full background here:
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/gay-rights-lawyers-obama-administration-rebuffed-our-requests-for-dialog/and here:
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/justice-department/obama-administration-set-to-hold-powwow-with-big-gay-groups/