Supreme Court Strikes Down DOMA; Paves Way for California Gay Marriage

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The decision was 5-4, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy. It said that the law amounted to the "deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment."

In a separate case, the court ruled that it could not take up a challenge to Proposition 8, the California law that banned gay marriage in that state. That decision means that gay marriage will once again be legal in California.


The ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act means that the federal government must recognize the gay marriages deemed legal by the states — 12 plus the District of Columbia, before the California case was decided.


"DOMA instructs all federal officials, and indeed all persons with whom same-sex couples interact, including their own children, that their marriage is less worthy than the marriages of others," the ruling said. It added that the law was invalid because there was no legitimate purpose for disparaging those whom states "sought to protect in personhood and dignity."

President Barack Obama, in a post on Twitter, said that the ruling was a "historic step forward for #MarriageEquality."

Kennedy was joined in the majority by the four members of the court's liberal wing, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Dissenting were Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.


Cheers went up outside the Supreme Court, where supporters of gay marriage waved signs, rainbow banners and flags with equality symbols.

The ruling comes as states are authorizing gay marriage with increasing speed and with public opinion having turned narrowly in favor of gay marriage.




Kennedy, in the ruling, said that New York's decision to authorize gay marriage was a proper exercise of its authority, and reflected "the community's considered perspective on the historical roots of the institution of marriage and its evolving understanding of the meaning of equality."


At the time, some members of Congress believed that the Defense of Marriage Act might be a compromise that would take the air out of a movement to amend the Constitution to block gay marriage.