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Alvarez said it's her job to represent Orr
-- and they both agreed with the plaintiffs. Peter Breen, executive director of the Thomas More Society, a private bar association that represents the Catholic Church, said the group "will be seeking relief from the court," though he didn't say exactly what that would be. Some experts have suggested the society could seek the right to defend the ban, though that's considered a long shot. "You can't just say you feel it's unconstitutional," said Breen. "This ... puts people of the state of Illinois in a difficult place because their elected representatives are not defending their interests. If there is no argument or disagreement, then you'd really have a hollow judgment." David Erickson, a former prosecutor and state appellate judge who now teaches at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, said it also potentially puts a private bar association in the position of being demonized for stepping forward to defend a state law. Erickson believes the law is unconstitutional but said Breen is right. "Show me where it says any elected official, especially a prosecutor, can say, `I won't defend law passed by a legislative body that is my coequal,'" Erickson said. "Only one body can say it's unconstitutional and that's the (Illinois) Supreme Court." But fellow Kent College professor Douglas Godfrey said Alvarez and Madigan have a professional responsibility to ensure claims have merit, whether they're filing a lawsuit or defending one, and "in essence ... said we don't think Illinois' law will stand muster." John Knight, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Project of the ACLU of Illinois, said plaintiffs will ask the judge to rule on Illinois' law based on their arguments and those of Madigan and Alvarez. Lambda Legal's marriage project director, Camilla Taylor, said she never has had a case in which the defendants agreed with her. It "reflects the fact that we're at a tipping point now ... (because) our government finds these laws indefensible," she said. She went on to add, "It comes at a time when a form of discrimination against a class of people in our society is so shameful and reprehensible that it's incapable of defense."
[Associated
Press;
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