Penn. AG will not defend ban on same-sex marriage

Pennsylvania’s elected attorney general, Democrat Kathleen Kane, said Thursday that she won’t defend the law that bans same-sex marriage in a federal case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and others.

It is now up to Republican Gov. Tom Corbett to defend the case, should he decide to do so.

Kane is supports same-sex marriage, while Corbett is opposed. Both were named in a lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday seeking to overturn the law and legalize same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania.

“We are the land of the free and the home of the brave, and I want to start acting like it,” ACLU of Pennsylvania tweeted Kane as saying. “I cannot ethically defend the constitutionality of Pa’s DOMA as I believe it to be wholly unconstitutional.”

Pennsylvania law says it’s the attorney general’s duty to defend the constitutionality of state laws. But it also says the attorney general may allow lawyers for the governor’s office or agencies to defend a lawsuit if it’s more efficient or in the state’s best interests.

Corbett’s office hasn’t commented on the lawsuit.