Tuesday, July 31, 2012

In Connecticut: Federal Trial Court takes down DOMA's Marriage Definition


More DOMA fallout news!

Buzzfeed reports:
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 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. 
Bryant 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."
The walls are coming down!

2 comments:

Roger Poladopoulos said...

We all know that sooner or later, DOMA is doomed. It was the moment it was voted into law and signed.

Anonymous said...

I would say sooner than later. DOMA has been declarer unconstitutional in the 1st, 2nd and 9th districts. Those three districts combined represent more than half the U.S. population.

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.