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Constitutional Law

: Blog of Rights

Obama DOJ Announces It Will Not Defend DOMA Cases in Court

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU

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UPDATE: See our statement >>

This afternoon, the Department of Justice announced that it would not defend the constitutionality of Section Three of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court. In his statement, Attorney General Eric Holder said:

After careful consideration, including a review of my recommendation, the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny. The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases. I fully concur with the President's determination. (emphasis ours)

Last November, the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging DOMA on behalf of Edie Windsor. Watch Edie's story here:

Please note that by playing this clip You Tube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see You Tube's privacy statement on their website and Google's privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view the ACLU's privacy statement, click here.

Learn more about our lawsuit challenging DOMA here.

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Full post as published by Blog of Rights on February 23, 2011 (boomark / email).