Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Supreme Court Expands Federal Benefits With Ruling

The United States Supreme Court ruling today on the defense of marriage Act (DOMA) effectively expands federal benefits to same-sex couples in states where same-sex marriage is legal.
The Court (with swing Justice Anthony Kennedy as the key vote) says that DOMA "violates basic due process."
The Court seemed to embrace Justice Ginsburg's characterization of limitations imposed by DOMA as "a sort of skim milk definition of marriage." Justice Thomas, Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia and Alito dissented.
Clearly, Justice Kennedy was the critical factor in today's DOMA decision and his vote here is really not a surprise when you go back and look at the questions he posed and the comments he made during the hearing on this matter.

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