- Another Twist in Gay-Marriage Fight
Much of the attention on gay-marriage battles in the courts has been focused on the Proposition 8 case in San Francisco federal court, including some of our own coverage here when we posted the transcripts of the trial. Now comes the ruling by U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro, a veteran judge in Boston, that the Defense of Marriage Act violates the Constitution by intruding “on a core area of state sovereignty, the ability to define the marital status of its citizen,” according to the Boston Globe story.
One of the court challenges was brought by Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley, who said the decision will allow the state’s 16,000 married same-sex couples to get federal benefits received by married heterosexuals. The Globe story notes that both sides of the issue expect the Obama administration’s Justice Department to appeal the decision and that the matter will ultimately go to the Supreme Court.
A helpful reference on the gay-marriage issue is the article written for us by Todd Solomon and Brian Tiemann of McDermott, Will & Emery, who summarized the different legislation going on in the states related to same-sex unions and benefits.
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| 12:08 PM Jul 9, 2010 | Email the Daily Dragon | Email this Article | Post Comments |
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