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DOJ seeks to dismiss Defense of Marriage Act challenge

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The suit was filed in March in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts by the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) on behalf of a group of plaintiffs who are or have been married under the state's same-sex marriage law. In its motion, the DOJ argued that it should be up to Congress to decide whether to repeal the law: Congress is entitled under the Constitution to address issues of social reform on a piecemeal, or incremental, basis. Congress is therefore permitted to provide benefits only to those who have historically been permitted to marry, without extending the same benefits to those only recently permitted to do so. Its decision to maintain the federal status quo while preserving the ability of States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples is rational. Congress may subsequently decide to extend federal benefits to same-sex marriages, and this Administration believes that Congress should do so. But its decision not to do so to this point is not irrational or unconstitutional.GLAD Legal Director Gary Buseck said he remained "confident in the justice of our cause and the strength of our case."Earlier this week, 90 members of the US House of Representatives introduced a bill to repeal DOMA. Last month, a federal judge in California dismissed a challenge to DOMA on jurisdictional grounds. In July, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed a suit challenging DOMA on the grounds that it interferes with the state's right to define and regulate marriage. Also in July, a Washington, DC law took effect that recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other states or jurisdictions. Currently, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Iowa, Connecticut, and Massachusetts all allow same-sex marriage. Signed by former president Bill Clinton, DOMA refuses federal marriage benefits to same-sex couples, including social security, tax laws, and immigration rights, and defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on September 18, 2009 (boomark / email).