Taking DOMA to the Supreme Court

owndbycatz

Today, the U.S. House Republicans who have been defending DOMA in the courts filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 1st Circuit's decision striking down DOMA as unconstitutional. For those of you who like to read these things (I'm one of those), here is the petition:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/98691032

Though the Supreme Court is not required to take the case, they almost certainly will. This is a federal law (unlike the Prop 8 case) and at the moment it is a federal law that is only "technically" unconstitutional in a small part of the country.

I've been following these cases closely and will be glad to do my best to answer any questions anyone has.

owndbycatz

In a rather surprising move, the Dept. of Justice ("DOJ"), representing the government defendants in the case Golinski v. OPM, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to skip one of the appeals levels a case usually goes through and take a case straight from a district court decision.

Usually a federal district court case is appealed to one of the Courts of Appeal before going to the Supreme Court. In this case, the district court decision striking down DOMA Sect 3 as unconstitutional was appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where the case is on an expedited schedule with oral arguments set for September. In a filing today, the DOJ asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case directly BEFORE the 9th Circuit issues a ruling.

You can read the letter to the 9th Circuit and the petition to U.S. Supreme Court here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/99034976/77

And here's a statement from Lambda Legal Staff Attorney Tara Borelli:
"This development highlights the desire by all, the government included, to
resolve this issue quickly. It is clear to us, to the Solicitor General
and to the Department of Justice that DOMA’s days are numbered. The last
four courts to consider the question have all found Section 3 of DOMA –
which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex couples’
valid marriages-- to be unconstitutional . DoJ’s action may speed the day
when the Supreme Court reaches the issue. Lambda Legal and Morrison &
Foerster stand ready to argue for fair treatment for Karen Golinski and her
spouse, Amy Cunninghis, in any court, at any time - and we welcome this
opportunity to finally put DOMA out of its, and our, misery.

"There are loving, married same-sex couples, and grieving lesbian and gay
widows and widowers around the country who are being hurt by the
government’s discriminatory actions – that’s why there are DOMA cases
pending in several jurisdictions, brought on behalf of many plaintiffs.
Every one of their stories demonstrates that DOMA is an unfair and
discriminatory law that violates the Constitution. While it is up to the
Supreme Court to decide whether or not to hear Golinski now, we are
confident that DOMA will be found unconstitutional – and the sooner, the
better."