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In written arguments, former attorneys general Edwin Meese III and John Ashcroft say it is unprecedented that the government would not defend a law that does not involve concerns over the separation of powers. "Historically, the president's constitutional obligation to `take care that the laws be faithfully executed' has been understood to include the vigorous defense of acts of Congress when they are challenged in court," they said. "It is no small step for a federal court to conclude that a coordinate branch of the federal government has acted irrationally," warned the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the House of Representatives, which is defending the law. The Justice Department said the law was motivated largely by disapproval of gays and lesbians and there was no governmental interest to justify the law's "differential treatment of same-sex couples who are legally married under the laws of their states."
[Associated
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