Oct 10
14
Obama Justice Department Appeals DOMA Rulings
LifeSiteNews.com – October 13, 2010
Obama Justice Department Appeals DOMA Rulings
By Peter J. Smith
BOSTON – The Obama Justice Department on Tuesday filed a terse notice to a federal appeals court in Boston that it is appealing a U.S. district judge’s ruling striking down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.
The appeal notice submitted by Assistant Attorney General Tony West does not mention any reasons for the United States’ defense of the 1996 federal statute, which defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman under federal law. It also protects states from having to recognize marriages performed in other states that would not be valid within their own respective jurisdictions.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is challenging the rulings of U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro, who gave two separate opinions in July, Massachusetts v. Health and Human Service and Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, that DOMA violates the principle of equal protection guaranteed in the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. (see coverage)
Tauro said that DOMA constitutes “irrational prejudice” and “encroaches upon the firmly entrenched province of the state,” violating the Tenth Amendment.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley sued in the Massachusetts case, and the Gill case was brought forward by the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD).