Update: Same-sex marriage can resume in California – the result of the Supreme Court ruling “just in” that dismisses an appeal regarding California’s Proposition 8.
Google celebrates with a new gay pride themed search box.
“DOMA is unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment.”
From The Advocate:
The Defense of Marriage Act has been ruled unconstitutional. Word has not yet come down on Proposition 8.
With the Supreme Court’s rulings today, the part of the Defense of Marriage Act that prevented federal recognition of their marriages is no more.
Exactly what the ruling means is still being interpreted by journalists and legal analysts. What is reported for sure, according to SCOTUSblog, is that in a 5-4 ruling, the liberal wing of the court picked up the vote of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion.
“DOMA singles out a class of persons deemed by a State entitled not recognition and protection to enhance their own liberty,” the opinion said in ruling it unconstitutional.
Chief Justice Roberts made clear, though, that the court did not consider in its DOMA ruling whether states have the right to use “the traditional definition of marriage.” Instead, the court ruled that Edie Windsor will get her money back. The 83-year-old from New York was forced to pay more than $360,000 in estate taxes because the federal government did not recognize her marriage to her wife spouse, Thea Spyer. And the ruling could have far-reaching consequences for couples in a myriad of circumstances caused by DOMA’s ban on federal recognition of same-sex marriages.
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