DOJ Plans To Recognize More Rights For Same Sex Couples
WASHINGTON -- A new Department of Justice memo will instruct federal government lawyers to give same-sex marriages "full and equal recognition, to the greatest extent possible under the law," Attorney General Eric Holder plans to announce during a speech on Saturday.
The immediate effects of the memo include recognizing that couples in same-sex marriages have the right to decline to give testimony in a civil or criminal case that might violate their marital privilege; that same-sex couples can file for bankruptcy jointly, and that federal inmates in same-sex marriages can be visited by their spouses and receive all other benefits afforded to opposite-sex couples.
"This means that, in every courthouse, in every proceeding, and in every place where a member of the Department of Justice stands on behalf of the United States - they will strive to ensure that same-sex marriages receive the same privileges, protections, and rights as opposite-sex marriages under federal law," Holder will say in a speech at the Human Rights Campaign gala on Saturday. The speech was release earlier in the day to the media. :thumbup1:
