More than 200 of the nation's leading publicly traded companies are joining two separate actions to oppose Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act at the Supreme Court, reports Bloomberg.
Apple Inc and Morgan Stanley [lead] the corporate group [which] includes Facebook and Intel. [It] will argue in its brief that gay-marriage bans in 41 states harm workplace morale and undermine recruiting.
The publicly traded companies backing gay marriage include Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Alcoa Inc., American International Group Inc, EBay Inc., Marsh & McLennan Cos., NCR Corp., Nike Inc, Oracle Corp, Office Depot Inc., Panasonic Corp., Xerox Corp., Barnes & Noble and Caesars Entertainment Corp.
A larger group of companies -- more than 200, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) -- is also poised to side with gay- rights advocates in a second Supreme Court case, involving a federal law that defines marriage as a heterosexual union. Under that law, known as the Defense of Marriage Act, legally married gay couples can’t claim the federal tax breaks and other benefits available to opposite-sex spouses. The companies in that case are part of a collection of more than 250 employers, including cities, counties and law firms.
Meanwhile: More than 100 lawmakers, politicians and former Republican leaders have now signed on to the Republican SCOTUS brief opposing Prop 8, reports the New York Times.
The list of Republicans on the brief now tallies more than 100, organizers say. It now includes Beth Myers, who ran Mr. Romney’s 2008 campaign and was a senior adviser to him in 2012. The brief, organized by Ken Mehlman, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee who is gay, will be filed on Thursday as a friend-of-the-court, or amicus, brief to a lawsuit that seeks to overturn Proposition 8.
Towleroad published a list on Tuesday of the Republican signatories so far. The list includes Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, former Reagan budget director David Stockman, former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, former California Rep. Mary Bono Mack ... and Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman, the former California Republican gubernatorial nominee who infamously supported Proposition 8 and vowed to defend it in court.
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