Immediate effect of DOMA decision profound
The Supreme Court today struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and rejected a challenge to a lower court ruling that invalidated California’s ban on same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8. Gregory Magarian, JD, constitutional law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, says that the immediate effects of these decisions for same-sex couples will be profound. “The demise of DOMA means that the federal government must treat same-sex couples, legally married under state laws, just like opposite-sex married couples for purposes of federal benefits, tax status, etc,” he says. “The nullification of Proposition 8 appears to make marriage available to same-sex couples in the nation’s largest state, under a prior marriage law that Proposition 8 had purported to invalidate.”
Supreme Court can strike down DOMA without impacting right to marry, says constitutional law expert
As the U.S. Supreme Court hearings on the Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA) conclude, it looks like the justices are ready to
strike down the law, says Gregory P. Magarian, JD, constitutional law
expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “The
crucial thing about this case is that the Court can strike down DOMA
without impacting the right or lack thereof of someone to marry,” he
says.