Federal Court in New York rules Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional

in: http://gaystarnews.com/article/federal-court-new-york-rules-defense-marriage-act-unconstitutional181012

Comes after appellate court in Boston had similar ruling
 

A federal appeals court in Manhattan on Thursday (18 October) ruled 2-1 that the US Defense of Marriage Act, defines marriage as between a man and a woman, is unconstitutional.

A federal appeals court in Boston also found DOMA unconstitutional earlier this year and the issue is expected to be taken up by the US Supreme Court during its current term.

The New York case was filed by Edith Windsor who sued because she was required to pay a $350,000 federal estate tax bill. The government does not recognize her marriage to her late wife Thea Spyer.

Judge Dennis Jacobs, who wrote the majority opinion, rejected a section of DOMA which states that 'marriage' only means a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife and that the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.

'Even if preserving tradition were in itself an important goal, DOMA is not a means to achieve it,' wrote Jacobs who also stated that the law is written too broadly.

Judge Chester Straub, the one dissenting vote, believes it is up to the American people, not the courts, to define marriage.

Said Straub: 'Courts should not intervene where there is a robust political debate because doing so poisons the political well, imposing a destructive anti-majoritarian constitutional ruling on a vigorous debate.'

DOMA prevents the US government from recognizing same-sex marriages even in states where such marriages are legal so couples cannot file joint federal tax returns or receive survivor benefits if one spouse dies.

DOMA was passed by both houses of Congress by wide margins in 1996 and signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton. Last year, President Barack Obama instructed the Justice Department to no longer defend the constitutionality of DOMA.

President Barack Obama asked the Justice Department not to defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act in courts last year so the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives stepped in.

It was revealed this week that the Republicans have exhausted nearly all of the $1.5 million they had budgeted to defend DOMA.

'The federal courts keep coming to the same conclusion - treating married same-sex couples differently than married different-sex couples is just plain unconstitutional,' Susan Sommer, Lambda Legal's director of constitutional litigation said of the ruling.

http://gaystarnews.com/article/federal-court-new-york-rules-defense-marriage-act-unconstitutional181012