Will Kane defend Pa. law banning gay marriage? Posted: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 5:16 PM EST Updated: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 5:16 PM EST 
 
 By MARC LEVYAssociated Press 
 
 HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The elected official tasked with defending Pennsylvania's laws also supports same-sex marriage, but now Attorney General Kathleen Kane faces a decision about whether to defend a law that bans it. 
 
 Kane, a Democrat, was scheduled to talk to reporters Thursday at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. So far, she's been silent on a day-old legal challenge to the state law banning same-sex marriage. 
 
 Pennsylvania law says it's her 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. 
 
 That means Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, who opposes gay marriage, could end up defending the law. Corbett's office isn't commenting on whether he will. 
 
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 Attorney General Kathleen Kane is expected to announce Thursday that her office won't defend the state in a federal lawsuit that challenges Pennsylvania's ban on gay marriage, the Daily News has learned. 
 
 Multiple sources confirmed that Kane, who is named along with Gov. Corbett as a defendant in the suit, plans to make the announcement at the National Constitution Center. 
 
 The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit, known as Whitewood v. Corbett, on Tuesday on behalf of 21 state residents. The plaintiffs are 10 couples and one widow who want to marry here, want the state to recognize their out-of-state marriages or want equal protections granted to straight married couples. 

 This article is from the archive of our partner . 
 
 Update Thursday, July 11: As previously reported, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane declined to defend her state's gay marriage ban in the face of a lawsuit challenging it. “I cannot ethically defend the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s version of [the Defense of Marriage Act] as I believe it to be wholly unconstitutional,” Kane said on Thursday afternoon. It's now up to the governor's law team to defend the ban. 
 
 Original post: Facing a lawsuit from the ACLU, it looks like Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is going to refuse to defend the state government's ban on gay marriage. Pennsylvania, the only state in the northeast without provisions for same-sex civil unions or marriages, was one of the first states with gay marriage bans targeted by a suit in the wake of the Supreme Court's partial striking of the Defense of Marriage Act. 
 
 If it's true, the news, reported by the Philadelphia Daily News, based on multiple anonymous sources, isn't entirely surprising. Earlier today, the AP noted that Kane, a Democrat, supports gay marriage, and that Pennsylvania law includes a provision allowing the governor's legal team to defend state law in her place, should it be more "efficient," or in the state's interest to play it that way. Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett opposes gay marriage, so it's unlikely that he'd decline to defend the law as well. The complaint, filed late Tuesday, names both Corbett and Kane as defendants. Kane is scheduled to speak to reporters on Thursday afternoon, when, apparently, she'll announce her decision regarding the suit. 

 Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane announced Thursday afternoon she will not defend the state in a federal lawsuit filed this week challenging the constitutionality of the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, calling the prohibition "wholly unconstitutional." 
 
 The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit Tuesday on behalf of 23 Pennsylvania residents, including 10 couples, a widow and two children, naming Kane and the state's Republican Gov. Tom Corbett as defendants. Kane's move, announced to reporters at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center, places the burden of defending the law on the governor's general counsel. Corbett supports the prohibition on same-sex marriage, which passed the state legislature in 1996. 
 
 In an interview Kane--who endorsed the idea of gay marriage while running for her post last year--said she was obligated to drop the case “because I endorse equality and anti-discrimination laws.” 
 
 “If there is a law that I feel that does not conform with the Pennsylvania state constitution and the U.S. Constitution, then I ethically cannot do that as a lawyer,” she said. 
 
 Kane added that the Pennsylvania General Counsel, James D. Schultz, was fully capable of defending the governor, who was also named as a defendant in the ACLU lawsuit. “I’m not leaving them high and dry,” she said. “They have their own team.” 
 
 Thomas Peters, spokesman for the National Organization for Marriage, said Kane's refusal to defend the ban represented a sort of "pocket veto" of the law. 
 
 "This is just one more example of how the Supreme Court set a bad precedent [last month] in allowing elected officials to not represent the will of the people when they find it expedient," he said an in interview. 
 
 
 
 Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower) 
 
 Proponents of California’s Proposition 8--the ballot initiative banning gay marriage in the state-- faced a similar problem after then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) and current governor Jerry Brown (D), who at the time served as California’s attorney general, declined to defend the proposition. 
 
 Last month the Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling that the ban was unconstitutional, effectively reinstating the right to same-sex marriage in California. Part of the basis for the ruling was that backers of the initiative did not have the standing to appeal the lower court's decision to the nation's highest court. 
 
 Pennsylvania General Counsel James D. Schultz said in a statement he and his colleagues "are surprised that the Attorney General, contrary to her constitutional duty under the Commonwealth Attorneys Act, has decided not to defend a Pennsylvania statute lawfully enacted by the General Assembly, merely because of her personal beliefs." 
 
 "We have not received any formal notification of Attorney General Kane’s decision," Schultz added. "While we await that notification and accompanying legal justification, we will continue to review the lawsuit filed by the ACLU." 
 
 Kane framed her decision both in terms of her constitutional obligations and her commitment to Pennsylvania residents, saying that in a choice between defending the law and serving the public, "I choose you." 
 
 Mary Catherine Roper, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said she and others involved in the lawsuit were "celebrating" in the wake of Kane's announcement. 
 
 "To have the highest law enforcement official of the Commonwealth come out and say, 'I agree with you, this law is unjust, that’s huge for us,'" Roper said in a phone interview, her voice audibly emotional. 
 
 However the the state GOP chairman Rob Gleason released a statement calling it "unacceptable for Attorney General Kathleen Kane to put her personal politics ahead of her taxpayer-funded job by abdicating her responsibilities." 
 
 "She is blatantly politicizing the highest law enforcement office in our Commonwealth at the expense of a core responsibility of the Attorney General’s office," Gleason added. "Pennsylvanians are left with the question, if the Kathleen Kane’s political beliefs are the standard for law enforcement, what law will she ignore next?” 
 
 Roper said it was "too early to tell" how Kane's decision would affect the actual case, but said the 23 plaintiffs would continue to pursuit their suit against the state. "We’re ready to roll," she said. 
 
 Kane, the first woman and the first Democrat ever elected to the position of Pennsylvania state attorney general, said during last year's campaign she opposes a ban on same-sex marriage.
– Pennsylvania's own attorney general won't defend the state's gay marriage ban, which is being challenged in a federal lawsuit, according to multiple sources, including lawyers involved in the case, who talked to the Philadelphia Daily News and the Washington Post. Kathleen Kane, the state's first Democrat AG, is expected to make the official announcement today. She and Gov. Tom Corbett are named as defendants in the lawsuit, and the Atlantic Wire notes that Corbett opposes gay marriage and will likely have no problem defending the ban. Pennsylvania law allows the governor's legal team to defend a state law instead of the attorney general's office; a third party could also step up to defend the ban, as happened in the case of California's Prop 8 battle. Kane's decision isn't much of a surprise: The AP questioned yesterday whether she would defend the ban, since she supports gay marriage. She's scheduled to talk with reporters at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center today.