Tag Archives: DOMA

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The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it would take up two cases which challenge the constitutionality of bans on LGBT marriage. In one case, the court will rule on the Defense of Marriage Act, which bans federal recognition of same sex marriage, effectively blocking LGBT couples from tax benefits and other privileges of official partnership in the eyes of Uncle Sam. New York resident Edith Windsor challenged DOMA as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth …

With the looming possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court might strike down the Defense of Marriage Act sometime this term, married same-sex couples could suddenly find themselves eligible for a host of federal tax benefits. Even better, if couples file what is known as a protective tax refund claim with the IRS before the end of the year, they could potentially pick up some extra dollars going as far back as 2009. DOMA, the 1996 Clinton-era law banning federal recognition …

Voters in Maine and Maryland yesterday approved ballot measures that will bring same-sex marriage to the states, the first time in history the issue has won a popular vote. The result of a third such ballot question in Washington state is still pending. In Minnesota, voters rejected a ballot measure that would have written a ban on gay marriage into the state constitution, though the practice remains illegal under state law. Maine had previously passed a law sanctioning LGBT marriage, …

For the second time this year, a federal appeals court has deemed that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. Today the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled that the 1996 law barring federal recognition of same-sex marriages is in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution that guarantees equal protection under the law. In June the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in Boston handed down a similar ruling in a separate …