Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Verdict

Publication Date

12-11-2012

Abstract

The U.S. Supreme Court will finally wade into the same-sex marriage debate that has embroiled virtually every other governmental body at the state and federal level at some point in the last twenty years. Last Friday, the Court agreed to review two cases that raise, in different ways, the question whether bans on same-sex marriage violate the federal constitution.

The first case, United States v. Windsor, presents the question whether a provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which precludes the federal government from giving effect, for any federal law purpose, to a validly celebrated same-sex marriage, is unconstitutional. The second case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, considers the constitutionality of a voter referendum in California that eliminated a right of same-sex marriage that the state’s highest court had previously ruled constitutionally necessary.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.