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Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / LGBTQ Rights / Gay Rights are Human Rights / DOMA Found to be Unconstitutional

DOMA Found to be Unconstitutional

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Moments ago, Judge Jeffery White of the District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause in a case brought by Karen Golinski. Golinski, represented by Lambda Legal, “was denied spousal health benefits by her employer, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.” White was appointed to the court by President George W. Bush in 2002. The decision represents a serious setback for House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), whose Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) defended DOMA after the Obama administration announced it would no longer defend the law. Read the full opinion here. (HT: GinnyLaRoe)

It seems like this entire three years of the Obama administration has been one big battle to undo all the crap of the Clinton era Republicans.

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  4. 4.

    Zifnab

    @MikeTheZ: I honestly don’t know what is more hilarious – the name, or John Boehner pretending to be bipartisan.

    Either way, this is good news for John McCain uh Mitt Romney er Rick Santorum hmm… whomever is currently leading in the GOP Primary right now.

  5. 5.

    beltane

    I hope this is brought up during tonight’s debate, if only so Santorum can be temporarily pried out of this country’s collective vagina.

  7. 7.

    Bago

    The Mass Effect 3 cinematic trailer, extended edition with clint mansell is one of the most epic pieces of cinema I’ve seen. When the makos start rolling over the husks, you realize why you put years into this series.

    Uhm politics-wise gay haters are doomed. But when it comes to penis count talk versus Mass Effect 3, my brain is firmly in Shepard’s camp.

    Clint Mansell using Shepard against the reapers, Jennifer Hale style?
    Fuck you Texas.

  8. 8.

    FlipYrWhig

    OT and all, but if recumbent Angelina Jolie is one of the “4 DANGERS DESTROYING MEN,” as the sidebar ad appears to suggest, sign me up for the man-pocalypse. Rrrrrrarrr.

  9. 9.

    Steve

    I am glad to hear that my tax dollars, the ones that funded BLAG, were spent in vain.

    The ironic thing is that this decision will be appealed to the same entity that committed the discrimination in the first place, the Ninth Circuit Court. Although I thought Chief Judge Kozinski (another Republican appointee) had already declared that DOMA wasn’t going to be enforced against court personnel.

  11. 11.

    Cris (without an H)

    Judge Jeffery White of the District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause

    ACTIVIST JUDGES

    White was appointed to the court by President George W. Bush in 2002.

    O SNAP

  13. 13.

    cthulhu

    Sweet. And hopefully the 9th will shortly tell the Prop 8 people to stuff it on their en banc review request.

  15. 15.

    Citizen_X

    It seems like this entire three years of the Obama administration has been one big battle to undo all the crap of the Clinton era Republicans.

    So, it’ll take till the second term of the Warren Administration to undo all the crap of the Bush era Republicans?

  17. 17.

    Amir Khalid

    @MikeTheZ:
    From R-Jud’s response, apparently so. But you know, you can’t expect John Boehner to be hip to British slang when he’s not even in touch with his own political party, still less his own country.

  20. 20.

    cathyx

    Now that I know that Google has me pegged for an old man, I’ve started noticing my ads are geared toward one.

  21. 21.

    KG

    @Karen: it’ll still have to go to the 9th Circuit, though I could see a motion to try and move it to the Federal Circuit by either side (I think they’d be able to do that since the 9th is effectively a party in this case). And given that states around the country are passing marriage equality, it could be an issue of national importance… though, traditionally, the Supremes like to wait for a Circuit split before taking a case like this.

  24. 24.

    cthulhu

    @KG:

    they requested en banc? that’s rather, er, stupid of them.

    Yes, yesterday. I consider it a total d*ck move. The Prop 8 people have always told their supporters that they wanted to get to SCOTUS ASAP but if the 9th goes along with the en banc review, this would delay that by at least a year. Sure, they could get a draw that is good for them on the 9th, but it’s not likely. So it seems to me that they are running out the clock and running up the donations before they lose in the end. Not too cool to people in CA waiting to be able to marry again.

  25. 25.

    daveX99

    @beltane: I like the idea of America having a ‘collective vagina’, but I’m not sure what it means. ‘E pluribus unum’, and all that.

    In any case, yes, Santorum should be invited to leave it.

  26. 26.

    patroclus

    The ridiculous statute was unconctitutional from the gitgo, and I’m glad to see the courts finally getting around to confirming that about 18 years later.

  27. 27.

    magurakurin

    @Citizen_X: While I’m more or less in favor of such an eventuality, let’s not start patting ourselves on the backs yet. She still has to win her Senate seat. Baby steps, unfortunately baby steps are all there is because the crazy is so deep and wide. Unbelievably, even after coming out against birth control, Playgirl Scott is not going to be a push over. Voters really are just that stupid.

  29. 29.

    KG

    @cthulhu: given that the opinion was written by Kozenski, I can’t imagine what would constitute a “good draw” on en banc for them. And it’s not like it wouldn’t be appealed anyway. I can only think of two reasons to go en banc… either you don’t think you can win at the Supreme Court or you don’t think the Supreme Court will take your case.

  30. 30.

    middlewest

    The actual opinion is here. It’s interesting how this played out. It began as a separation of powers case with the 9th circuit asserting it had the right to manage its employees without legislative or executive interference. Plaintiff lost on jurisdiction, but was able to turn it into a straightforward discrimination case, which she won decisively.

    Fun fact: Nancy Pelosi is a member of BLAG. One of the two token liberals I believe.

  34. 34.

    Comrade Dread

    Well, I guess I have to go tell my wife that our loving marriage is over now, since we’re all going to have to go get gay married or were we supposed to marry our pets or a dozen spouses or… I don’t know what the slippery slope is telling me I have to do now.

    Guess I should go turn on Rush and find out what species, gender, and how many of them I’m now required to marry.

  35. 35.

    wrb

    @cathyx:

    If American has a collective vagina, then people like Santorum are the yeast infections.

    If America has a collective asshole, then…

  38. 38.

    JWL

    “It seems like this entire three years of the Obama administration has been one big battle to undo all the crap of the Clinton era Republicans”.

    “Clinton-era republicans”? Clinton endorsed it himself. Along with NAFTA & Glass-Staegall, for starters.

  40. 40.

    BenA

    @freelancer: I’ve got a PS3 so came late to the whole Mass Effect party… just about halfway finished with my first replay.. love the game. I suppose I’m going to have to get Mass Effect for my PC now too. Funny thing is I didn’t like Dragon Age all that much which delayed me buying Mass Effect 2 for the PS3.

  41. 41.

    Zifnab

    @cthulhu:

    So it seems to me that they are running out the clock and running up the donations

    You say that like you’re in any way surprised that the anti-gay marriage fight was about sucking money from the rubes. This fight’ll keep Orange County Republican champagne cabinets stocked through 2016, even if they never get a reason to celebrate.

  42. 42.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @dmsilev: you know, i’ve at least listened to every damned one of these trainwrecks. and i can’t see stopping now. know your enemy, and all that.

  43. 43.

    West of the Cascades

    @Steve: it IS ironic, no? Apparently Chief Judge Kozinski made that ruling earlier in his capacity as the Ninth Circuit’s chief administrator, not as a judge (the plaintiff here was an employee of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals) … then pretty much invited the plaintiff in his last administrative order on that ruling to file a lawsuit to get a judicial order that the employee and her wife should get the same benefits as opposite-sex married couples.

    It’s a fun opinion to read – http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/doma-opinion.pdf – and the part about the procedural history and the Chief Judge’s involvement at the beginning is explained much more clearly than I just did.

  44. 44.

    Midnight Marauder

    Despite the modest successes in remediating existing discrimination, the record demonstrates that gay men and lesbians continue to suffer discrimination “unlikely to be rectified by legislative means.”

    Paging Chris Christie to the white courtesy phone…

  46. 46.

    freelancer

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    This is mildly convoluted, but pretty funny. When I just linked to Lou Dobbs railing against new children’s movies, I was looking for the McSweeney’s article on parents that raise their little girl to be an Objectivist. Then I remembered the conservative blogger who got took by that article and wrote a whole post about it being awesome, failing to realize it was satire. One of his most recent entries is “Newsflash Conservatives- Presidents Appoint Judges“:

    One important power of the President of the United States that conservatives apparently didn’t realize that he had is the power to appoint federal judges. It’s surprising, because usually conservatives have a good idea of what is going on in government and are usually pretty educated about the Constitution, but on radio show after radio show I hear conservatives arguing that they would rather that President Obama wins another term of office and appoints judges who do not like our Constitution rather than Mitt Romney win and appoint judges who would follow the Constitution.
    (snip)
    In spite of Mitt Romney stating his desire to appoint people to the Court who have a strict interpretation of our Constitution, in spite of Mitt Romney’s many statements in support of President Bush’s conservative judicial appointments, and in spite of Romney’s frequent criticism of Obama’s appointments, many conservatives would rather that our judicial system be instead filled by liberal activist judges who ignore the Constitution and make up laws and regulations that they can’t get passed in Congress.

    George W Bush appointed federal judge strikes down DOMA. Federalism! Strict interpretation of the Constitution! Freedom! No moar making up rules you can’t pass in Congress!

  47. 47.

    Keith G

    It seems like this entire three years of the Obama administration has been one big battle to undo all the crap of the Clinton era and the Republicans.

    A more correct version.

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    It seems like this entire three years of the Obama administration has been one big battle to undo all the crap of the Clinton era Republicans.

    say it over

    and over

    and over

  49. 49.

    Martin

    @Bago:

    The Mass Effect 3 cinematic trailer, extended edition with clint mansell is one of the most epic pieces of cinema I’ve seen. When the makos start rolling over the husks, you realize why you put years into this series.
    __
    Uhm politics-wise gay haters are doomed. But when it comes to penis count talk versus Mass Effect 3, my brain is firmly in Shepard’s camp.
    __
    Clint Mansell using Shepard against the reapers, Jennifer Hale style?
    Fuck you Texas.

    Have you ever woken up from anesthesia and people are trying to talk to you, and you know that you should be able to understand them as you recognize it as English and you trust the people to make sense, but no matter how hard you concentrate, it all sounds like word salad?

    Yeah, that’s me reading that comment. Nouns, verbs, it’s all in there without any actual meaning to me. It’s probably brilliantly insightful but I just want you off my damn lawn – no offense.

    I need a vacation.

  53. 53.

    cmorenc

    @freelancer:

    Yes, why can’t there be any adaptations of children’s books that share conservative values such as those of Ayn Rand?

    Hard to find any children’s books about billionaire kids who go on strike at the playground because the kids who are parasitic freeloaders insist on sharing time with them on the coolest swingset. However, I can think of a book for kids the conservatives would like: “Lord of the Flies.” Well, ok “Lord of the Flies” is written about children, rather than for children, but I can see how the conservatives would really like the able deserving hunter Jack, successful at making a killing (of animals, but that’s a symbolic stand-in for money), and the fact that the whiny fat kid who’s a symbolic stand-in for liberals, Piggy, gets the sort of tragic end he deserves. After all, the crowd at the GOP debate cheered the notion of allowing an uninsured patient to die, so they’d like that part of Piggy’s role in the plot.

  58. 58.

    Riilism

    Moments ago, Judge Jeffery White of the District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause in a case brought by Karen Golinski.

    This is what matters to me. Not that I or anyone else has a right to get married, but that I am assured equal protection and due process. It’s what frustrates the hell out of me whenever someone suggests that the LGBT community be patient when it comes to marriage. I’m not (currently) impatient about having the right to marry. I’m terrified that my constitutional guaranteed rights are subject to the whims of the majority. For me, it’s not about marriage, it’s about equality…

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @cathyx:

    Heh. They think I’m a horny Hispanic guy in my early 50s. They also think I’m an evangelical fundamentalist Jeebus-botherer in my 20s. Fucking algorithms, how do they work?

    HEY GOOGLE!! I’m an almost 70-year-old WASA broad. Market THAT.

  60. 60.

    The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

    @Gex:

    Everybody remembers Maynard G. Krebs, but Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. doesn’t get any respect.

  62. 62.

    Triassic Sands

    Unfortunately, in other court decisions: In Washington State a US district court judge ruled against the state’s requiring pharmacies to dispense Plan B.

    Washington state cannot force pharmacies to sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying the state’s true goal was to suppress religious objections by druggists — not to promote timely access to the medicines for people who need them.

    Yeah, judge, it’s all just those evil seclarists’ waging war on religion and has nothing to do with caring about women’s health and well-being. Everyone knows that if a god-fearing pharmacist dispenses Plan-B the big guy will send him or her straight to hell. So, the damage to that individual far outweighs some oversexed slut getting pregnant because she doesn’t keep an aspirin clenched tightly between her knees. I’m really, really growing to hate these religious zealots.

    This judge has already been overruled by the Appeals Court, but after rehearing the case he came to the same conclusion.

  63. 63.

    Catsy

    @Martin: You will want to watch this in 1080p.

    Mass Effect 3 is going to be incredible, but fuck EA left right and sideways for mandating that the PC version be locked to their useless, extraneous Origin service–may it be a costly failure that discourages them from trying to pull anything like that again (there’s a reason why MW3 clobbered BF3 in sales on the PC).

    I bought the first two ME games on both PC and console, and I actually prefer them on PC because it makes the shooter elements much more pleasant. But I refuse to support Origin, so it looks like I’ll be getting ME3 on PS3 and EA can go pound sand.

  64. 64.

    cthulhu

    @middlewest:

    Fun fact: Nancy Pelosi is a member of BLAG. One of the two token liberals I believe.

    BLAG is a standing House committee made up of the Speaker, Majority and Minority Leaders and the respective whips. So, yeah, Pelosi and Hoyer are, by definition, part of it. But the 3 GOP members voted over the strong objections of the two Dem members to take on the DOMA fight. So, at least on this topic, BLAG is bipartisan in the same way the Bataan Death March was a joint US-Japanese operation.

  65. 65.

    John M. Burt

    It seems like this entire three years of the Obama administration has been one big battle to undo all the crap of the Clinton era Republicans.

    I cannot think of a worthier task, Augean though it is.

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