Today the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments and review the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act with the case, United States v. Windsor, et al. The Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities sponsored the American Bar Association's amicus brief in the Windsor case. The brief was drafted pro bono by a team of lawyers, led by Harry Sandick, at the firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP. Yesterday, the Court heard arguments in Hollingsworth v. Perry, No. 12-144 to determine whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
The ABA Windsor brief asks the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the "serious obstacles" that Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act imposes on lawyer's clients who are same-sex couples legally married under state law. The brief describes Section 3’s impact on the federal rights and responsibilities of these clients in areas that include retirement and estate planning, health care, taxation, military benefits, ethical obligations and immigration. The brief advises that Section 3, which defines marriage as only between one man and one woman, results in unprecedented and discriminatory burdens on legally married same-sex couples that are inconsistent with the constitutional guarantee of equal protection.
The brief also cites the ABA’s advocacy over the past 40 years to eliminate discrimination against gays and lesbians. To read the full brief, click here.
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