In the now famous case, titled United States v. Windsor, the U.S.
Supreme Court examined the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act to decide whether a
portion of the act was unconstitutional. Specifically, the U.S. Supreme Court
was deciding whether Section 3 of the act, which functionally denied federal
benefits for same sex couples, was constitutional. Ms. Windsor was married to her partner, and
when her partner died, she was denied the exemption for spouses under federal
law for estate inheritance. She was forced to pay over $300,000.00 in taxes to
the federal government under DOMA, and she filed a lawsuit to contest this
provision. Over the years, the case wound its way through our Appeals circuits
and found its way in front of the Supreme Court.
The Court found that Section 3 of
the act, which denied federal benefits to same sex couples, violated the Equal
Protection Clause of the constitution. Justice Kennedy wrote the opinion, and
he stated, “DOMA’s principal effect is to
identify a subset of state-sanctioned marriages and make them unequal.” Under
the new ruling, same sex couples can apply for federal spousal benefits, tax
exemptions and tax credits as any opposite sex couple would under existing law.
The Court recognized that there
was no rational basis for the law under their analysis, and struck Section 3 of
DOMA down.
While the case is a seminal moment
for the same sex marriage movement, it also did not strike down DOMA entirely.
There are remaining questions about whether a State that does not recognize gay
marriage is required to give full faith and credit to a marriage from a state
that allows same sex marriage. The Supreme Court did not answer this question,
as it was not presented to them in this case. Future cases are bound to find
their way to the U.S. Supreme Court that challenges this provision of DOMA, but
for now the same sex marriage movement has scored an important victory for
their cause.
At Parnell & McKay we are happy
to take on any family law case for whoever may need it. If you find yourself in
need of Family Law assistance, contact
the Law Offices of Parnell & McKay to put our over 30 years of experience
to use.
