More than 75 prominent Republican leaders have signed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the freedom for gay and lesbian couples, The New York Times reported late Monday.
The brief will be filed this week in the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, the federal challenge seeking to strike down Proposition 8, California’s 2008 voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage.
It argues that same-sex marriage promotes family values by allowing children of gay couples to grow up in two-parent homes, and that it advances conservative values of “limited government and maximizing individual freedom.”
The list of signers includes a string of Republican officials and influential thinkers — 75 as of Monday evening — who are not ordinarily associated with gay rights advocacy, including some who are speaking out for the first time and others who have changed their previous positions.
Among them are Meg Whitman, who supported Proposition 8 when she ran for California governor; Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Richard Hanna of New York; Stephen J. Hadley, a Bush national security adviser; Carlos Gutierrez, a commerce secretary to Mr. Bush; James B. Comey, a top Bush Justice Department official; David A. Stockman, President Ronald Reagan’s first budget director; and Deborah Pryce, a former member of the House Republican leadership from Ohio who is retired from Congress.
[…] Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former Utah governor, who favored civil unions but opposed same-sex marriage during his 2012 presidential bid, also signed.
In making the argument that same-sex marriage bans are discriminatory, the brief’s signatories are at odds with the House Republican leadership, which has authorized the expenditure of more than $3 million to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, the law that defines marriage in the eyes of the federal government as the union of a man and a woman.
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“None of us — Democrat, Republican or Independent — would want to be told that we can’t marry the person we love, and these signatories are blazing the trail for the next generation of fair-minded Republicans still to come,” said Griffin.
The Times noted that several high-profile Republicans who have come out in support of same-sex marriage — including former Vice-President Dick Cheney, former First Lady Laura Bush, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, were not among the signatories as of Monday.
Hollingsworth v. Perry has been found unconstitutional by the Federal District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case on March 26.
Update: The current list of signatories includes:
- Ken Mehlman, Chairman, Republican National Committee, 2005-2007
- Tim Adams, Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, 2005-2007
- David D. Aufhauser, General Counsel, Department of Treasury, 2001-2003
- Cliff S. Asness, Businessman, Philanthropist, and Author
- John B. Bellinger III, Legal Adviser to the Department of State, 2005-2009
- Katie Biber, General Counsel, Romney for President, 2007-2008 and 2011-2012
- Mary Bono Mack, Member of Congress, 1998-2013
- William A. Burck, Deputy Staff Secretary, Special Counsel and Deputy Counsel to the President, 2005-2009
- Alex Castellanos, Republican Media Advisor
- Paul Cellucci, Governor of Massachusetts, 1997-2001, and Ambassador to Canada, 2001-2005
- Mary Cheney, Director of Vice Presidential Operations, Bush-Cheney 2004
- Jim Cicconi, Assistant to the President & Deputy to the Chief of Staff, 1989-1990
- James B. Comey, United States Deputy Attorney General, 2003-2005
- R. Clarke Cooper, U.S. Alternative Representative, United Nations Security Council, 2007-2009
- Julie Cram, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director White House Office of Public Liaison, 2007-2009
- Michele Davis, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Director of Policy Planning, Department of the Treasury, 2006-2009
- Kenneth M. Duberstein, White House Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President, 1981-1984 and 1987-1989
- Lew Eisenberg, Finance Chairman, Republican National Committee, 2002-2004
- Elizabeth Noyer Feld, Public Affairs Specialist, White House Office of Management and Budget, 1984-1987
- David Frum, Special Assistant to the President, 2001-2002
- Richard Galen, Communications Director, Speaker’s Political Office, 1996-1997
- Mark Gerson, Chairman, Gerson Lehrman Group and Author of The Neoconservative Vision: From the Cold War to the Culture Wars and In the Classroom: Dispatches from an Inner-City School that Works
- Benjamin Ginsberg, General Counsel, Bush-Cheney 2000 & 2004
- Adrian Gray, Director of Strategy, Republican National Committee, 2005-2007
- Richard Grenell, Spokesman, U.S. Ambassadors to the United Nations, 2001-2008
- Patrick Guerriero, Mayor, Melrose Massachusetts and member of Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1993-2001
- Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce, 2005-2009
- Stephen Hadley, Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor, 2005-2009
- Richard Hanna, Member of Congress, 2011-Present
- Israel Hernandez, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, 2005-2009
- Margaret Hoover, Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, 2005-2006
- Michael Huffington, Member of Congress, 1993-1995
- Jon Huntsman, Governor of Utah, 2005-2009
- David A. Javdan, General Counsel, United States Small Business Administration, 2002-2006
- Reuben Jeffery, Undersecretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Agricultural Affairs, 2007-2009
- Greg Jenkins, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Advance, 2003-2004
- Coddy Johnson, National Field Director, Bush-Cheney 2004
- Gary Johnson, Governor of New Mexico, 1995-2003
- Robert Kabel, Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, 1982-1985
- Theodore W. Kassinger, Deputy Secretary of Commerce, 2004-2005
- Jonathan Kislak, Deputy Undersecretary of Agriculture for Small Community and Rural Development, 1989-1991
- David Kochel, Senior Advisor to Mitt Romney’s Iowa Campaign, 2007-2008 and 2011-2012
- James Kolbe, Member of Congress, 1985-2007
- Jeffrey Kupfer, Acting Deputy Secretary of Energy, 2008-2009
- Kathryn Lehman, Chief of Staff, House Republican Conference, 2003-2005
- Daniel Loeb, Businessman and Philanthropist
- Alex Lundry, Director of Data Science, Romney for President, 2012
- Greg Mankiw, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers, 2003-2005
- Catherine Martin, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Communications Director for Policy & Planning, 2005-2007
- Kevin Martin, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission, 2005-2009
- David McCormick, Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, 2007-2009
- Mark McKinnon, Republican Media Advisor
- Bruce P. Mehlman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, 2001-2003
- Connie Morella, Member of Congress, 1987-2003 and U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003-2007
- Michael E. Murphy, Republican Political Consultant
- Michael Napolitano, White House Office of Political Affairs, 2001-2003
- Ana Navarro, National Hispanic Co-Chair for Senator John McCain’s Presidential Campaign, 2008
- Noam Neusner, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Speechwriting, 2002-2005
- Nancy Pfotenhauer, Economist, Presidential Transition Team, 1988 and President’s Council on Competitiveness, 1990
- J. Stanley Pottinger, Assistant U.S. Attorney General (Civil Rights Division), 1973-1977
- Michael Powell, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission, 2001-2005
- Deborah Pryce, Member of Congress, 1993-2009
- John Reagan, New Hampshire State Senator, 2012-Present
- Kelley Robertson, Chief of Staff, Republican National Committee, 2005-2007
- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Member of Congress, 1989-Present
- Harvey S. Rosen, Member and Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers, 2003-2005
- Lee Rudofsky, Deputy General Counsel, Romney for President, 2012
- Patrick Ruffini, eCampaign Director, Republican National Committee, 2005-2007
- Steve Schmidt, Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor to the Vice President, 2004-2006
- Ken Spain, Communications Director, National Republican Congressional Committee, 2009-2010
- Robert Steel, Undersecretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, 2006-2008
- David Stockman, Director, Office of Management and Budget, 1981-1985
- Jane Swift, Governor of Massachusetts, 2001-2003
- Michael E. Toner, Chairman and Commissioner, Federal Election Commission, 2002-2007
- Michael Turk, eCampaign Director for Bush-Cheney 2004
- Mark Wallace, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Representative for UN Management and Reform, 2006-2008
- Nicolle Wallace, Assistant to the President and White House Communications Director, 2005-2008
- William F. Weld, Governor of Massachusetts, 1991-1997, and Assistant U.S. Attorney General (Criminal Division), 1986-1988
- Christine Todd Whitman, Governor of New Jersey, 1994-2001, and Administrator of the EPA, 2001-2003
- Meg Whitman, Republican Nominee for Governor of California, 2010
- Robert Wickers, Republican Political Consultant
- Dan Zwonitzer, Wyoming State Representative, 2005-present
