The Herald got around to asking Hilarie Bass the Greenberg Traurig chair about the firm's ridiculous opinion letter that Clerks of Court in Florida are free to enforce an unconstitutional law.
Ms Bass, in a bit of corporate doublespeak, declared that her firm supports same sex marriage, but that its opinion, actually written by some undistinguished bankruptcy lawyers in the Tallahasse office, was "based on Florida law."
The problem of course is that the opinion letter is an open invitation to nullify in 66 counties a judgment of a federal court. Judge Hinkle held that the law law, actually a provision of the Florida Constitution, is in conflict with the Equal Protection clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Under the Supremacy Clause that means it may not be enforced.
The Attorney General of Florida defended the Florida ban and lost. She is the one state official who is authorized to represent the interests of the state when a challenge to the constitutionality of a state law is made.
According to the Tallahasse bankruptcy geniuses at Florida's largest law firm, 66 more clerks need to be sued before marriage licenses may be issued in every county.
Ms Bass was given an opportunity to say that the firm was reconsidering its abysmal legal advice. Instead she obfuscated the issue and tried to portray her firm as the victim of the law itself.
This is simply not acceptable. Most GT lawyers which include many of the best in this state know that the opinion letter is an affront to federalism and that its reasoning misstates the law. Enough is enough.
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