Second Court Rules Against Defense of Marriage Act

Posted on Oct 18, 2012

Flickr/Mktp

A federal appeals court in Manhattan became the second court to find that the Defense of Marriage Act—the law that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman—is unconstitutional.

Thursday’s ruling paves the way for the case to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court is expected to take it up sometime next year.

AP via The Huffington Post:

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its 2-to-1 ruling only weeks after hearing arguments on a lower court judge’s findings that the 1996 law was unconstitutional.

The majority opinion written by Judge Dennis Jacobs rejected a section of the law that says “marriage” only means a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife and that the word “spouse” refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife. A federal appeals court in Boston earlier this year also found it unconstitutional.

The issue is expected to be decided by the Supreme Court. The decision came less than a month after the court heard arguments on Sept. 27.

Read more

—Posted by Tracy Bloom.

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