A major victory for equality has been won today.
In a landmark 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court today ruled that the federal Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law banning same-sex marriage nationally, is unconstitutional. In U.S. v. Windsor, justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act violates the Fifth Amendment guarantee of equal protection under law. Justices Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito dissented.
Almost simultaneously, the court issued a ruling dismissing Hollingsworth v. Perry, the case in defense of California’s Proposition 8. In another 5-4 decision, but with Roberts, Sotomayor, Scalia, and Kennedy switching sides, the court ruled that the parties bringing the suit lacked standing to do so. As the state of California is not defending the law, private parties attempted to bring the suit to the Supreme Court, which ruled that that’s not their job.
CBS News has a video summarizing the decision, and showing some of the massive crowds gathering to hear and celebrate these vital decisions. Today we have taken, as a nation, another step toward being slightly more civilized.
Okay so to clarify something, DOMA has not been struck down. Section 3 of DOMA was struck down, Section 2 is still very much in play.