About the duty to represent

Now, here's the thing, over in the US, the DOJ has stopped defending DOMA because, well, it's an evil law that entrenches bigotry. I approve

The haters, naturally, do not and are quite fond of there being bigotry in the law and decided to pay vast amounts of everyone-tighten-their-belts-money to the private law firm King & Spauldin.

And now the usual suspects are grumbling. And one particular grumble is how lawyers shouldn't turn down cases like this, the idea that it would be like leaving the last man on death row without representation and, ethically, aren't lawyers required to take all cases?

You know the core element that made me defend all these people, no matter how vile I found them, no matter how revolted I was, no matter what nightmares I left with or even no matter how I feared for my own safety?

They were PEOPLE.

And people have rights. People need defending. People need a shield in the justice system. People are owed justice

DOMA is not a person. DOMA being struck down will not ruin anyone's life. DOMA being struck down will not see an innocent weighed with the stigma of being a criminal, it will not see them lose their freedom or their property or their reputation.

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