domingo, 27 de março de 2011

Legal English: Obama's DOMA Policy - Review Exercise (Holder's letter)

The President has made the _____ that, under _____ review, Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional and _____ the Equal Protection rights of same-sex couples legally married under state law. Therefore, _____ to the applicable US Code provisions, the Attorney General has informed Congress that the President has _____ the Department of Justice (DOJ) to no longer defend the _____ in the courts.


pursuant – violates – direct – determination – statute – stricter

This policy _____ has been prompted by cases brought against DOMA in _____ where there is no _____ _____ on the appropriate _____ of review for determining the constitutionality of laws involving classifications based on sexual orientation.

jurisdictions – binding – shift – standard – precedent

While the Administration had been defending Section 3 in ¬¬¬¬¬_____ where circuit courts have already _____ that classifications based on sexual orientation are subject to rational basis review, the new lawsuits will require the DOJ to take an affirmative position on the _____ of review, or level of _____, that must be applied in testing the constitutionality of the DOMA _____.

standard – jurisdictions – provision – scrutiny – hold

The U.S. Supreme Court has not _____ on this issue, but it has _____ decisions that _____criteria for determining whether a legislative classification of individuals is _____, thus, requiring heightened _____. Those criteria, when applied to the DOMA challenges in question, lead the President and the DOJ to conclude that indeed a stricter _____ of review is required.

suspect – render – set forth – scrutiny – rule – standard

Under _____ _____, the DOJ can only defend Section 3 by _____ the legislative _____ underlying the passage of DOMA. The _____, however, contains numerous expressions of moral disapproval of homosexuals and their family relationships, precisely the kind of prejudice the Equal Protection Clause is designed to _____.
record (2) – heightened – guard against – scrutiny – invoke


Notwithstanding the President’s _____, Section 3 will continue to _____ by the Executive Branch. To that end, the President has instructed Executive agencies to continue to _____ with Section 3 of DOMA, consistent with the Executive’s obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, unless and until Congress _____ Section 3 or the judicial branch _____ a definitive verdict against the law’s constitutionality. This course of action respects the actions of the prior Congress that enacted DOMA, and it recognizes the judiciary as the final arbiter of the constitutional _____ raised.

comply – enforce – repeal – determination – claims – render

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