Senate passes Respect for Marriage Act
One more vote until the Respect for Marriage Act is law.
Continue 13 Comments November 29, 2022
Filed under: DOMA Repeal
Senate moves forward on Respect for Marriage Act
Debate ended on Respect for Marriage Act, final vote coming soon.
Continue 52 Comments November 16, 2022
Four states refuse military benefits for married same-sex couples
Four states are now blocking military benefits for same-sex married couples, even after a directive from the federal government to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision striking down Section 3 of DOMA in United States v. Windsor.
Continue 2 Comments September 18, 2013
Federal court strikes down law barring veterans in same-sex marriages from receiving spousal benefits
In a pair of decisions filed yesterday, federal district court judge Consuelo B. Marshall ruled in Cooper-Harris v. USA that the district court has authority to hear a constitutional challenge to statutes defining marriage as opposite-sex only for purposes of military benefits, and that sections of the statute, Title 38, are unconstitutional under equal protection principles.
Equality news round-up: Questions over IRS guidance post-DOMA, and more
– The Center for Constitutional Rights notes that the civil trial against anti-gay activist Scott Lively for aiding abd abetting crimes against humanity can go forward. EqualityOnTrial will have more on SMUG v. Lively in the coming days.
– Think Progress reports on a marriage equality lawsuit in Utah.
– The AP has a report on the plaintiff in one of the military-related challenges to Section 3 of DOMA, Carmen Cardona, who filed the lawsuit styled as Cardona v. Shinseki.
– Bloomberg News discusses taxes post-DOMA.
2 Comments August 16, 2013
Report: Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage stalled in Republican-led House of Representatives
By Scottie Thomaston
Capitol Hill
Last month, when the Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act in United States v. Windsor, a Republican representative in the House introduced an amendment to the United States Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Amendments have to pass by 2/3 in both houses of Congress and then 3/4 of the states. The marriage amendment has come up in different forms in the past, and has never passed Congress, although at the time Massachusetts was the only state with same-sex marriage. Now, there are 13, and a majority of Americans support marriage equality. The amendment seems to have no chance of passage at this point.
Now, Huffington Post is reporting that the latest proposal is ‘gathering dust’ in committee, with only 36 cosponsors:
When the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in late June, Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) didn’t waste any time filing legislation that would go around the court and ban same-sex marriage by amending the U.S. Constitution.
“This would trump the Supreme Court,” Huelskamp told The Huffington Post at the time. “The debate is not over.”
Since then, Huelskamp’s bill has picked up 36 cosponsors — all of whom are rank-and-file conservatives — and now awaits action in the House Judiciary Committee.
And that may be all you ever hear of the bill.
According to their story, Huffington Post contacted House leadership and various Republican House representatives, and “nobody seems to want to go near it[.]” House Speaker John Boehner has said he has no plans to take legislative action after the Court’s Windsor ruling.
There are no marriage equality cases awaiting Supreme Court review, though cases in Hawaii and Nevada are pending at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and a challenge to Michigan’s marriage equality ban is ongoing in district court. The Court ducked the question in the Prop 8 case, holding only that the ballot initiative’s proponents lacked legal standing to appeal from the district court when the state declined to appeal.
July 17, 2013
