WASHINGTON, D.C. – Republican leadership in the House of Representatives have vowed to defend the nation’s Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court.

Speaker of the House John Boehner stated last week that he may go to court to defend the federal law against gay marriage in which President Barack Obama’s administration last week declaired unconstitutional.

Boehner contends that the president does not determine what laws are constitutional and what laws are unconstitutional and that only the courts can determine the constitutionality of a law while it’s the president’s duty to enforce all laws regardless of his personal feelings.

DOMA defined marriage as a union between a man and a women and prevented the federal government from recognizing gay marriages and allows states to deny recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states. The law was passed in 1996 by a Republican-led Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

It’s been used by federal officials to justify excluding gay couples from a range of benefits available to heterosexual couples. They include health, Social Security, pension and tax benefits, even to gay couples who were legally married in the handful of states that recognize same-sex unions.