The Defense of Marriage Act, the law barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized by the states, is unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday by a 5-4 vote.

"The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. “By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment.”

Justice Kennedy delivered the court’s opinion, and was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito all filed dissenting opinions.

DOMA, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, prevents same-sex couples whose marriages are recognized by their home state from receiving the hundreds of benefits available to other married couples under federal law. During the Obama administration, the Justice Department initially defended DOMA in court despite the administration’s desire to repeal it. But the Justice Department changed course in early 2011, finding that the law was unconstitutional and declining to defend it any longer. House Republicans have since spent hundreds of thousands of dollars taking over that defense.

Plaintiff Edie Windsor, 84, sued the federal government after the Internal Revenue Service denied her refund request for the $363,000 in federal estate taxes she paid after her spouse, Thea Spyer, died in 2009.

During the March oral arguments in United States v. Windsor, a majority of the court seemed to express doubts about the constitutionality of DOMA. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that supporters of the law seemed to want "two types of marriage," likening same-sex unions to the "skim milk" version of marriage.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/supreme-court-doma-decision_n_3454811.html

Smh... CFCfan, you predicted this... Or was it the opposite?

At times it feels like I do not understand the world anymore. Generation gap perhaps? Not unexpected sha.

Oahray: Smh... CFCfan, you predicted this... Or was it the opposite?

At times it feels like I do not understand the world anymore. Generation gap perhaps? Not unexpected sha.

Yeah. The law was unconstitutional in the 1st place.

CFCfan:

Yeah. The law was unconstitutional in the 1st place.

abeg eeee... I can't believe they re-defined marriage just to ensure 'gay rights'. Keep it up

*moving to Russia*

Utter rubbish

California's Prop 8 law, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, has also been vacated by the court.

I hope the law that says a human must marry a human must be truncated. Some humans prefer marrying their dogs. I think they have the right to do that.

Afam4eva: I hope the law that says a human must marry a human must be truncated. Some humans prefer marrying their dogs. I think they have the right to do that.

lol. I think the USA is getting there

Afam4eva: I hope the law that says a human must marry a human must be truncated. Some humans prefer marrying their dogs. I think they have the right to do that.

Lmao

the day will come when men will marry ricjer man to get spousal benefits just like dykes diking richer dykes

oh lala...

Oahray: lol. I think the USA is getting there

CFCfan:
Lmao

What i hate is hypocrisy. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. It's funny that the same gay people who are fighting for their rights today will be among the people that will fight against Human-Animal relationship tomorrow. The same black people who were fighting their their rights to be recognized as equall humans are also at the forefront of denying gay people their rights. This world is full of maximum hypocrisy.

UPDATE: California's Prop 8 also struck down!

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday left for dead California's same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8, but the question of gay and lesbian couples' constitutional right to marry remains very much alive.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices held in Hollingsworth v. Perry that the traditional marriage activists who put Proposition 8 on California ballots in 2008 did not have the constitutional authority, or standing, to defend the law in federal courts after the state refused to appeal its loss at trial.

“We have never before upheld the standing of a private party to defend the constitutionality of a state statute when state officials have chosen not to,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. “We decline to do so for the first time here.”

Roberts was joined in his majority opinion by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. Justice Anthony Kennedy filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor.

The judgement of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit was vacated and the case remanded with instructions to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. While California will likely begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the decision will not have an impact beyond the state's borders, and other same-sex marriage bans across the country will be left intact.

California voters added the ban to the state's constitution in 2008 through a ballot initiative that reversed the state Supreme Court's recognition of same-sex marriage earlier that year. Two same-sex couples challenged Proposition 8 in federal court, and by the time their suit reached the justices, two lower courts had declared the ban unconstitutional.

I am not surprised..anything to the contrary and the united states of america who brandishes itself as the greatest lover and respecter of human rights and equality will explain to the world why they have laws discriminating against group. Why would there be discrimination in a country whoes declaration of independence says 'every man is equal under GOD'.

You don't alter a faltering society negatively to suit the aspirations of a select mundane few. The repercussions of these laws will have long reaching effects on the American society in the long run.
Although same sex couples are still a minority and will forever be a minority, the acceptance of this anomaly will provide a tunnel for other anomalies to be brought to forefront for public and legal acceptance which cannot be contained by the society.