The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was dealt another body blow yesterday when U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones struck down a key part of the law dealing with benefits for partners in gay marriages, ruling in Manhattan that the Act's efforts to define marriage "intrude upon the states' business of regulating domestic relations."
Judge Jones is now the fifth judge to find the 1996 law unconstitutional, a view held by an increasingly large number of politicians (not to mention the White House).
As for the case that led to the ruling, it involved Edith Windsor, a New Yorker whose partner Thea Spyer died in 2009. The couple lived together for 44 years and were married in Canada in 2007. However, because of DOMA, Windsor was unable to qualify for the unlimited marital deduction on her late wife's estate and was required to pay $363,053 in federal estate tax. As part of the ruling, below, the government was ordered to reimburse Windsor for the money she paid in estate taxes.
The ruling was immediately hailed by gay rights proponents, including recently married City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who said she was "thrilled by the news." And Rep. Jerrold Nadler was happy as well:
"Today’s decision in the case brought by my constituent - and an exemplary human being - Edie Windsor, is yet another major act of validation for equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans. And it is yet another blow to the terribly discriminatory and clearly unconstitutional DOMA. I am again gratified that Paul Clement and Speaker Boehner’s BLAG have been unable to defend a law that is so thoroughly indefensible.
“I congratulate Edie for this first offering of justice after she has had to endure so much injustice. Both the Constitution and basic commonsense tell us that no reasonable law would deny Edie and Thea Spyer, her late fiancée of decades, the very same federal protections and responsibilities that every other committed American couple is afforded.”
Windsor is expected to speak about the case to the media later this morning.
