U.S. Supreme Court Rulings for Marriage Equality

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2013年6月26日

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Prop 8 and Section 3 of DOMA Overturned, Same-sex Marriage Still Not Legal in 37 States

(加州圣何塞) Today was a monumental day in the fight for equity of the LGBTQ community. 在那里 were two major decisions announced by the United States Supreme Court in favor of the LGBTQ community: the first, was regarding the Defense of Marriage Act; and the second, was on the State of California’s Proposition 8.

The Ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act

The United States Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (《lol菠菜网正规平台》), a 1996 law that prohibited the federal government from recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples for purposes of federal programs and benefits such as Social Security and immigration.

The federal government will now recognize same-sex marriages from states where it is legal for same-sex marriages to take place. The ruling keeps intact the sovereignty of states to decide whether or not to recognize a same-sex marriage from another state, 根据《lol菠菜网正规平台》第2条.

第二节. Powers Reserved to the States

No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship.

The right to marry still lies with each individual state, leaving 12 states (California 将是13th) where same-sex couples can get married and 37 where they cannot. 有很多 questions left to be answered in the future in regard to how this will be played out in practice with less than 一个 third of the nation’s states recognizing same-sex marriage. One such issue that is being debated currently in Congress is LGBT immigration and 两国共同的情侣. It is unknown at this time how the decision will affect those living in states where same-sex marriage is not legal.

The Ruling on Proposition 8

法院 ruled in a 5-4 decision that the supporters of Proposition 8 lacked legal standing to appeal Judge Walker’s decision striking down the initiative. 法院 ruled that because the Governor and Attorney General of California, the officials responsible for defending state laws in court, decided not to appeal Judge Walker’s decision, the supporters of Proposition 8 could not appeal that decision on their own because they could not show that allowing same-sex couples to marry would personally 以任何方式影响他们.

The next step of this process will take place with the United States Court of Appeals 第九巡回法院. They will need to formally dismiss the supporter’s appeal, ruled invalid by the Supreme Court, of the Proposition 8 decision by Judge Walker, effectively clearing the path for the State of California to begin issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples again. The timeline for this process is still to be determined.

参考资料

By Christopher Stoll, Esq., NCLR Senior 工作人员 Attorney