Opponents of California Proposition 8 Support Full Participation for Gays in Right to Marriage
March 26, 2013
The historic constitutional test of gay marriage rights unfolds today, when the U.S. Supreme Court takes up California's same-sex marriage ban, a case in which opponents to the ban seek not a narrow victory, but full participation by gay couples in the fundamental right to marry.
Challenge to DOMA Concentrates on Small Steps
March 26, 2013
As the U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow considers the Defense of Marriage Act in the case of 'United States v. Windsor,' it is faced with dozens of briefs from, among others, groups of former military officials, intelligence officers and even a bankruptcy judge urging it to strike down the law. The question is whether the justices - and especially Anthony Kennedy - will agree that the time has come to change course.
Brief Challenging DOMA Section Is Submitted
February 28, 2013
The stage is now set for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the Defense of Marriage Act's definition of marriage as an institution that is the exclusive domain of heterosexuals violates the Constitution.
Circuit Used Wrong Standard in DOMA Ruling, Brief Argues
February 1, 2013
Lawyers for the Republican majority in the House of Representatives are disputing on several fronts a ruling by the Second Circuit that the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutionally discriminates against same-sex married couples. But they argue that the issues in the case can be distilled to a few fundamental legal principles.
State Bar Panel Discusses DOMA's Future
January 25, 2013
The federal Defense of Marriage Act is rife with "irrationality" that disadvantages same-sex couples in concrete ways, such as imposing tax penalties, and in more subtle ways that its drafters never envisioned, said Roberta Kaplan, a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison who will argue for the statute's invalidation before the U.S. Supreme Court in March.
Justices to Hear Woman's DOMA Challenge
December 10, 2012
The justices will review a decision by the Second Circuit holding unconstitutional a section of the Defense of Marriage Act that defines marriage, for federal government purposes, as exclusively a union between one man and one woman.
Cascade of Same-Sex Marriage Cases Adds Pressure for a Ruling on DOMA
November 28, 2012
When the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court gather for their Nov. 30 conference, they will face an array of same-sex marriage related petitions that have arrived at the court in an unusual confluence of timing and strategic litigating.
House GOP Is Running Out of Funds to Fight DOMA
October 22, 2012
House Republicans have paid Washington law firm Bancroft nearly $1.5 million in the past two years to have former solicitor general Paul Clement defend the Defense of Marriage Act in federal courts.
Circuit Strikes Key Provision of Marriage Act
October 19, 2012
A divided Second Circuit panel yesterday held that DOMA violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. Moreover, the majority went further than either the Southern District or the First Circuit in Boston, which both ruled against the law, by subjecting the definition to a more exacting standard of review.
Second Circuit Hears Arguments on Constitutionality of DOMA
September 28, 2012
Paul Clement, the lawyer for the Republican House majority insisted yesterday that Congress acted rationally when it defined marriage exclusively as between one man and one woman. But Roberta Kaplan of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison countered that there can be no rational basis for the act's discrimination against her client, Edie Windsor, who was forced to pay taxes on the estate of her spouse, Thea Spyer.
Amicus Briefs Pour Into Second Circuit for Review of DOMA Validity
September 13, 2012
There is no shortage of advice for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit as it prepares to decide whether the Defense of Marriage Act's definition of marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman is constitutional with, to date, 19 amici from across the political spectrum having weighed in on the appeal brought by the Republican leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives.
DOMA Section Unconstitutional, Connecticut Judge Rules
August 2, 2012
The ruling came in the case of six married same-sex couples and a widower from Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont who sued after being denied federal benefits.
Judge Finds DOMA Discriminates Against Married Same-Sex Couples
June 7, 2012
Becoming the fourth Article 3 judge to find the Defense of Marriage Act violates the U.S. Constitution, Southern District Judge Barbara Jones granted summary judgment yesterday to Edith Windsor, who sued the government for failing to recognize her marriage to her partner Thea Spyer after Spyer's death in 2009.
