How the Separation of Powers Informs the Executive Duty to Defend the Law
Date of Event
10-2-2014
Description
October 2, 2014
"How the Separation of Powers Informs the Executive Duty to Defend the Law"
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
The Sumner Canary Lecture
Speaker: Judge William H. Pryor Jr. United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
Do executive branch officials in the federal and state governments have an obligation to defend the law? In 2011 the Justice Department decided that it could no longer defend constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court. Since then, several state Attorneys General followed suit, refusing to defend state laws barring the recognition of same-sex marriage. In Ohio, Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a brief opposing the constitutionality of a state campaign law, even as the Attorney General’s office was defending the law in federal court. In this lecture, Judge Pryor will consider the obligation of government officials to defend validly enacted laws in light of established separation of powers principles, drawing on his experience as a state Attorney General, a federal judge, and a law professor.
Lecture Series
Sumner Canary Lecture
Subject Headings
Executive Branch and rule of law; DOMA enforcement; Defense of Marriage Act enforcement
Location
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Document Type
Video
Recommended Citation
Pryor, Judge William H. Jr., "How the Separation of Powers Informs the Executive Duty to Defend the Law" (2014). Conferences and Symposia. 361.
https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/law_videos_general/361