Federal Judge today says section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional

[Guest EXPAT]

From Metro Weekly:

Today, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued its order finding that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act -- the federal definition of marriage -- is unconstitutional in Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management, Karen Golinski's challenge to the denial of her request for equal health insurance benefits for her wife. Golinski, a federal court employee, brought suit after her request was denied. She is represented by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. Because President Obama and the Department of Justice have stopped defending Section 3 of DOMA in court challenges, the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group -- led by House Republican leadership -- had opposed Golinski's request in court.

Via press release from Lambda Legal:

"This ruling, the first to come after the Justice Department announced it would no longer defend this discriminatory statute in court, spells doom for DOMA," said Tara Borelli, staff attorney in Lambda Legal's Western Regional Office in Los Angeles. "The Court recognized the clear fact that a law that denies one class of individuals the rights and benefits available to all others because of their sexual orientation violates the constitutional guarantee of equality embodied in the Fifth Amendment. The Court agreed with us that sexual orientation discrimination by the government should receive heightened scrutiny under the constitution. It then concluded that DOMA could not meet that standard, and that there was not even a rational justification to deny Karen Golinski the same spousal health care benefits that her heterosexual co-workers receive."

Read the full ruling here: http://lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal-docs/golinski_us_20120222_order

[Guest EXPAT]

It's only a matter of time before DOMA is made unconstitutional by default. The SCOTUS won't be able to ignore all of the federal judges calling components of it unconstitutional. And now the 8th state, Maryland, has legalized same sex marriage. All of these people including Christie who was on the wrong side of history. Shame on them.

[Guest EXPAT]

A federal judge in California has again ruled DOMA unconstitutional, this time as it pertains to limiting how same-sex spouses and domestic partners can join a long term care program administered by CalPERS without the fund losing tax status. The Obama administration refused to defend the law, leaving it to the House's BLAG to fail again.

[Guest EXPAT]

BREAKING: TWO REPUBLICAN JUDGES DECLARE DOMA UNCONSTITUTIONAL | A three judge panel of The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit just handed down a decision declaring the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. Notably, the panel included Judges Juan Torruella and Michael Boudin, both of whom are Republican appointees. Judge Boudin, who authored the opinion, is one of the most highly regarded judges in the country; he frequently sends his former law clerks to clerk for Supreme Court justices. More analysis of his opinion will follow shortly.

[Guest EXPAT]

Rep. Nancy Pelosi and 144 other House Democrats filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the Windsor case, arguing that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.