DOMA is doomed

[FR7 Baptist]

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York slammed another nail in the coffin of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act on Thursday. The noxious 1996 federal law defines marriage as being between one man and one woman, thus denying same-sex families the right to marry and the same financial and legal stability afforded straight couples who marry. It’s flat-out discrimination. And by a 2-to-1 vote, the appeals court agreed.

The majority opinion in Windsor v. United States, written by Judge Dennis Jacobs, ruled that DOMA violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. The conservative jurist appointed by President George H. W. Bush in 1992 even adopted the view of the Obama administration in declaring that laws singling out gay men and lesbians deserve “heightened scrutiny” by the courts.

Article Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...d09cb1c-19e5-11e2-bd10-5ff056538b7c_blog.html

I disagree with it being struck it down on equal protection grounds. I would have overturned DOMA on states' rights grounds because the Constitution doesn't give the federal government the authority to define marriage.

 

[Aaron]

More likely, you think same sex marriage should receive legal sanction.

 

[FR7 Baptist]

More likely, you think same sex marriage should receive legal sanction.

You'd lose that bet.

 

[billwald]

Is a marriage license a public act, a record, or a judicial proceeding? If so, must they not be honored in every state? I have always wondered why a driver's license is not honored in every state.

ARTICLE IV: STATES

Section 1
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

Section 2
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.