DOJ To SCOTUS: Yes On Marriage

Eric Holder’s promised brief has arrived. Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed:

The United States government on Friday urged the Supreme Court to strike down bans on same-sex couples marriages across the country, concluding, “There is no adequate justification for such a discriminatory and injurious exercise of state power.” Specifically, the Justice Department urges: “The marriage bans challenged in these cases impermissibly exclude lesbian and gay couples from the rights, responsibilities, and status of civil marriage. These facially discriminatory laws impose concrete harms on same-sex couples and send the inescapable message that same-sex couples and their children are second-class families, unworthy of the recognition and benefits that opposite-sex couples take for granted. The bans cannot be reconciled with the fundamental constitutional guarantee of ‘equal protection of the laws.’”

Dig into the brief and pull out your favorite parts.