In a historic victory for gay rights, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday morning in United States v. Windsor that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional in a 5-4 decision split along partisan lines. <\/p>\n
The majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, found that DOMA is a violation of the \"equal protection\" clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. <\/p>\n
\"[It's] no surprise to me that it was struck down,\" House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)saidjust minutes after the ruling was announced. <\/p>\n
\"This admission by the court that this bill was unconstitutional was a very important decision for our country, for not only what it means in the lives of people, but also it sends a message of not to be frivolous with the issue of discrimination in our country, and that's what this is about: discrimination,\" she said. <\/p>\n
The Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law signed by President Bill Clinton, defined marriage for legal purposes as the union between a man and a woman as husband and wife. <\/p>\n
Section 3 of the act barred federal benefits for same-sex couples even in states where same-sex marriage is legal. <\/p>\n
The plaintiff in the monumental Supreme Court challenge against DOMA, Edith Windsor, faced the brunt of this discriminatory act. 83-year-old Windsor, who was widowed when her wife Thea Spyer died in 2009, was forced to pay more than $363,000 in federal estate taxes on her partner's estate. She argued that she would have paid no federal state taxes had federal law deemed her marriage the same status as a heterosexual marriage and decided to sue the governmentafter the Internal Revenue Service denied her refund request for the $363,000 in federal estate taxes she paid. <\/p>\n
Windsor's experience, however, was not an isolated case. <\/p>\n
According to theHuman Rights Campaign,\"DOMA singles out lawfully married same-sex couples for unequal treatment under federal law, allowing states torefuse recognitionof valid civil marriages and denying same-sex couples more than 1,100 federal benefits and protections.\" <\/p>\n
The DOMA opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, declared that the 1996 law violated the Fifth Amendment's equal-protection provision. <\/p>\n
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\nFifth Amendment: How It Was Crucial in Getting Rid Of DOMA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"