Federal Trial Court In Connecticut Strikes Down DOMA's Marriage DefinitionOn DOMA's definition of "marriage," court finds "that no conceivable rational basis exists for the provision."
posted Jul 31, 2012 1:50pm EDT
Chris Geidner
BuzzFeed Staff
http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/federal-trial-court-in-connecticut-strikes-down-do
Janet Geller & Joanne Marquis, two of the plaintiffs in the Connecticut case.(Photo courtesy Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.)U.S. District Court Judge Vanessa L. Bryant today held in a federal case in Connecticut that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act — the federal definition of marriage — is unconstitutional.
Bryant, in a case brought by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, follows several other federal judges over the past two years to have reached the same conclusion. Federal judges in Massachusetts, California — in two different courts — and New York also have found DOMA's provision defining "marriage" and "spouse" as only being unions of one man and one woman in all federal laws unconstitutional, as well as one federal appeals court.
Bryant — appointed to the bench by President George W, Bush on April 2, 2007 — found that laws that classify people based on sexual orientation should be subject to heightened scrutiny by courts — as the Department of Justice and plaintiffs argued in the case — but found the provision of the 1996 law unconstitutional "even under the most deferential level of judicial scrutiny."
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See the
original article to read the 104 page decision. -MadelineB
Another District Court Finds DOMA Unconstitutional
July 31, 2012 | Brian Moulton
HRC Blog
http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/another-district-court-finds-doma-unconstitutionalToday, a Connecticut federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush became the latest to rule that Section Three of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act – which denies federal recognition and more than 1,100 rights and benefits to even lawfully married same-sex couples – is unconstitutional, according to BuzzFeed.
This is the fifth district court to find DOMA unconstitutional, following similar decisions in Massachusetts, California, and New York.
