Comey Among Conservatives Urging Supreme Court to Strike Down Gay Marriage Ban

Took a stronger view on allowing gay marriage recognition than the Obama Administration

President Obama's choice to lead the FBI, James Comey, has taken a more aggressive stance than the president and Attorney General Eric Holder in pushing for marriage equality at the Supreme Court — a fact made more notable because Comey is a Republican.

With a White House official confirming this evening that Obama will announce he is nominating Jim Comey to serve as the next FBI director on Friday, and as the country waits for a Supreme Court ruling in the case challenging California's Proposition 8, the differing viewpoints serve as a reminder that it was only last May that Obama announced he even personally supported marriage between same-sex couples.

Comey, who served as Deputy Attorney General under President George W. Bush, joined Ken Mehlman and more than 125 other "social and political conservatives, moderates, and libertarians from diverse backgrounds" to urge the Supreme Court to strike down California's amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying on the grounds that marriage is a fundamental right and there is no legitimate reason to ban same-sex couples from exercising that right. Under that reasoning, all such bans would be unconstitutional.