Same-sex marriage won a history victory Wednesday after the Supreme Court struck down key provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act which prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage.
In a 5-4 decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy writing for the majority ruled that DOMA is an unconstitutional deprivation of equal liberty, a violation of the Fifth Amendment.
The ruling means that federal benefits like tax breaks and insurance for government employees to same-sex couples in Washington D.C. and twelve other states, will be allowed.
Justice Antonin Scalia writing the minority dissent called Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion “rootless and shifting,” “confusing,” and “perplexing.”
He also said that it consists of “nonspecific hand-waving,” and that it demonstrates “real cheek,” businessinsider.com reported.
Antonin Scalia dissented from the decision on the grounds that the court did not have standing to take the case, businessinsider.com also reported.
Reacting to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Representative Linda Stewart (D-Orlando) issued the following statement:
“I applaud the Supreme Court’s sound legal decision to strike down key parts of the Defense of Marriage Act; a bill passed in the name of morality that intentionally discriminates against other Americans in profoundly immoral ways. Any legislation that alienates a single class of people because of whom they are or who they love has no place in a country in which its founding promise has always been equality before the law.
Stewart added: “The past has shown that equality does not always come quickly, and never cheaply; the forces of justice have often fought those of prejudice and misunderstanding, and lost. But today’s ruling proves that while it is not always a steady or even march toward basic civil rights for millions of Americans, it is surely an inevitable one.”
The Supreme Court dismissed California Proposition 8 appeal case, leaving in place the lower court’s decision in California that allows for same sex marriage to be reinstated.
