SCOTUS Defeats DOMA and Prop 8

Jacob Miller — June 26, 2013 – 12:55 pm | Civil Rights | Domestic Policy Comments (0) Add a comment

Today, the US Supreme Court issued two landmark decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8.  In the United States v. Windsor, a challenge to DOMA by Edith Windsor challenged that same-sex couples should receive federal benefits, the court ruled that this discrimination was unconstitutional. SCOTUSBlog explained the ruling:

The federal Defense of Marriage Act defines “marriage,” for purposes of over a thousand federal laws and programs, as a union between a man and a woman only. Today the Court ruled, by a vote of five to four, in an opinion by Justice Kennedy, that the law is unconstitutional. The Court explained that the states have long had the responsibility of regulating and defining marriage, and some states have opted to allow same-sex couples to marry to give them the protection and dignity associated with marriage. By denying recognition to same-sex couples who are legally married, federal law discriminates against them to express disapproval of state-sanctioned same-sex marriage. This decision means that same-sex couples who are legally married must now be treated the same under federal law as married opposite-sex couples.

On Proposition 8, the court ruled that those who brought the challenge to Prop 8 did not have the legal standing to do so, and thus invalidated the law!

Below are some reactions on the court’s ruling on DOMA.

From President Barack Obama:

I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act.  This was discrimination enshrined in law.  It treated loving, committed gay and lesbian couples as a separate and lesser class of people.  The Supreme Court has righted that wrong, and our country is better off for it.  We are a people who declared that we are all created equal - and the love we commit to one another must be equal as well…

The laws of our land are catching up to the fundamental truth that millions of Americans hold in our hearts:  when all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.   

From House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi:

Today, the Supreme Court bent the arc of history once again toward justice. The court placed itself on the right side of history by discarding Section 3 of the defenseless Defense of Marriage Act and by allowing marriage equality for all families in California. The highest court in the land reaffirmed the promise inscribed into its walls: ‘equal justice under law.’

From House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer:

‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’  America was founded with these words, which speak the hopes of a nation that today took an important step closer toward fulfilling its Founders’ promise.  

From President and Secretary Clinton:

By overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, the Court recognized that discrimination towards any group holds us all back in our efforts to form a more perfect union. We are also encouraged that marriage equality may soon return to California. We applaud the hard work of the advocates who have fought so relentlessly for this day, and congratulate Edie Windsor on her historic victory.    

From Keshet, the leading Jewish LGBT group:

We are elated that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of fairness and equality by striking down DOMA and Prop 8. Our ancient Jewish values teach us that we all are created B’tzelem Elohim (in God’s Image) and our current laws violated this sacred principle by refusing to recognize and protect same-sex relationships.

The overwhelming majority of American Jews support equal marriage (81%, 2012 Public Religion Research Institute) and this is a proud day for us all.

On this anniversary, I celebrate not only our relationship, but the hundreds of thousands of other LGBTQ Americans who will be able to access this fundamental right.

From Bend the Arc:

American Jews nationwide applaud today’s ruling from the Supreme Court, which continues the proud American tradition of ever-expanding personal rights, and honors the Jewish values of shared humanity and equality that we hold dear From the Anti-Defamation League:

We have long believed that that the principle of equal treatment under federal law means equal treatment for all.  The Court’s landmark decision in Windsor affirms the principle that legally married same-sex couples are entitled to all of the federal rights, protections and benefits of civil marriage.   

From the American Jewish Committee:

AJC welcomed today’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that gay married couples are entitled to federal benefits. The 5-4 decision found the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which had banned such benefits, unconstitutional.

Full recognition of marriage equality-the right to marry the person one loves regardless of gender-is a right whose recognition is long overdue. Today’s decisions are a large, but, unfortunately, incomplete, step in that direction.

From the Religious Action Center:

Today’s Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality is a significant victory for the protection of Americans’ civil rights. No longer will lesbian and gay couples remain invisible to the federal government; no longer should there be doubt about the legal legitimacy of these partnerships.

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