Weigel

Cuccinelli Dumps King & Spalding Over DOMA Cop-Out

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Mark Tapscott has the scoop :

“King & Spalding’s willingness to drop a client, the U.S. House of Representatives, in connection with the lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was such an obsequious act of weakness that I feel compelled to end your legal association with Virginia so that there is no chance that one of my legal clients will be put in the embarrassing and difficult situation like the client you walked away from, the House of Representatives,” Cuccinelli said in a letter to Joseph Lynch in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

It’s become pretty well established that King & Spalding pulled out of its contract with House Republicans because corporate clients (Coca Cola especially) cried havoc. The economic interest is here; Coca Cola’s business was worth more than Virginia’s. Dahlia Lithwick is right about the merits of the decision , though. The precedent says what Cuccinelli implies.

UPDATE: The letter.