A HUGE morning for mariage equality: DOMA is unconstitutional, Proposition 8 is history

Pro­gres­sives have a lot to cel­e­brate this morning.

In a pair of much-antic­i­pat­ed deci­sions, the Unit­ed States Supreme Court struck down a key pro­vi­sion of the so-called “Defense of Mar­riage Act” and let stand a low­er court deci­sion inval­i­dat­ing Cal­i­for­ni­a’s Propo­si­tion 8, a 2008 attempt to amend Cal­i­for­ni­a’s Con­sti­tu­tion to out­law civ­il mar­riages by same-sex couples.

The rul­ings by the Court do not make mar­riage equal­i­ty the law of the land across the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca. How­ev­er, the deci­sion in Hollingsworth v. Per­ry is expect­ed to result in mar­riage equal­i­ty return­ing to Cal­i­for­nia, and LGBT cou­ples there and the dozen oth­er states plus D.C. where mar­riage equal­i­ty is legal will now be eli­gi­ble for ben­e­fits under fed­er­al law thanks to the deci­sion in Wind­sor, as the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment will no longer be able to dis­crim­i­nate against them.

“I applaud the Supreme Court’s deci­sion to strike down the Defense of Mar­riage Act,” Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma said in a state­ment. “This was dis­crim­i­na­tion enshrined in law. It treat­ed lov­ing, com­mit­ted gay and les­bian cou­ples as a sep­a­rate and less­er class of peo­ple. The Supreme Court has right­ed that wrong, and our coun­try is bet­ter off for it. We are a peo­ple who declared that we are all cre­at­ed equal – and the love we com­mit to one anoth­er must be equal as well.”

He added:

This rul­ing is a vic­to­ry for cou­ples who have long fought for equal treat­ment under the law; for chil­dren whose par­ents’ mar­riages will now be rec­og­nized, right­ly, as legit­i­mate; for fam­i­lies that, at long last, will get the respect and pro­tec­tion they deserve; and for friends and sup­port­ers who have want­ed noth­ing more than to see their loved ones treat­ed fair­ly and have worked hard to per­suade their nation to change for the better.

So we wel­come today’s deci­sion, and I’ve direct­ed the Attor­ney Gen­er­al to work with oth­er mem­bers of my Cab­i­net to review all rel­e­vant fed­er­al statutes to ensure this deci­sion, includ­ing its impli­ca­tions for Fed­er­al ben­e­fits and oblig­a­tions, is imple­ment­ed swift­ly and smoothly.

On an issue as sen­si­tive as this, know­ing that Amer­i­cans hold a wide range of views based on deeply held beliefs, main­tain­ing our nation’s com­mit­ment to reli­gious free­dom is also vital. How reli­gious insti­tu­tions define and con­se­crate mar­riage has always been up to those insti­tu­tions.  Noth­ing about this deci­sion – which applies only to civ­il mar­riages – changes that.

The laws of our land are catch­ing up to the fun­da­men­tal truth that mil­lions of Amer­i­cans hold in our hearts:  when all Amer­i­cans are treat­ed as equal, no mat­ter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.

This is cer­tain­ly a water­shed moment in the his­to­ry of the Amer­i­can civ­il rights move­ment. We have come a long way since 1996, when Repub­li­cans passed — and Pres­i­dent Clin­ton signed — leg­is­la­tion that required the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment to dis­crim­i­nate against same-sex cou­ples. Now all Wash­ing­ton cou­ples can enjoy the rights and respon­si­bil­i­ties that come with mar­riage. It is a great day.

It seems fit­ting that the Hollingsworth deci­sion was hand­ed down dur­ing my trip to Cal­i­for­nia. It is won­der­ful to see the hap­py faces of so many Gold­en State pro­gres­sives. They’ve watched as mar­riage equal­i­ty has come to New Eng­land, Iowa, Wash­ing­ton, Mary­land, Delaware and Min­neso­ta while Propo­si­tion 8 has remained in effect pend­ing appeal. Now there can be no more appeals.

“After years of strug­gle, the U.S. Supreme Court today has made same-sex mar­riage a real­i­ty in Cal­i­for­nia,” said Cal­i­for­nia Gov­er­nor Jer­ry Brown. “In light of the deci­sion, I have direct­ed the Cal­i­for­nia Depart­ment of Pub­lic Health to advise the state’s coun­ties that they must begin issu­ing mar­riage licens­es to same-sex cou­ples in Cal­i­for­nia as soon as the Ninth Cir­cuit con­firms the stay is lifted.”

Cal­i­for­nia Attor­ney Gen­er­al Kamala Har­ris has advised Brown that coun­ty offi­cials “can and should” be instruct­ed to resume issu­ing mar­riage licens­es to same-sex cou­ples once the 9th Cir­cuit lifts its stay. Now that the Supreme Court has declined to revive Propo­si­tion 8, get­ting that stay lift­ed should­n’t present a problem.

We at NPI com­mend the Supreme Court for its rul­ings in Hollingsworth and Wind­sor. We would have liked to see Chief Jus­tice John Roberts’ name on the major­i­ty opin­ion — a 6–3 deci­sion would have been stronger than a 5–4 decision.

Chief Jus­tice John Roberts, one of two George W. Bush appointees, is on the wrong side of his­to­ry, along with the Supreme Court’s most con­ser­v­a­tive jus­tices — Samuel Ali­to, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas.

Thank­ful­ly, Jus­tice Antho­ny Kennedy — who him­self has been the swing vote respon­si­ble for some pret­ty awful Supreme Court deci­sions over the last few years — feels strong­ly about LGBT rights and was will­ing to join with the Court’s four more lib­er­al jus­tices to cre­ate a major­i­ty against discrimination.

Wind­sor may not have been decid­ed unan­i­mous­ly, and its out­come won’t mean mar­riage equal­i­ty in all fifty states. But it does mean that cou­ples in the more than one-fourth of states that have mar­riage equal­i­ty will have their unions rec­og­nized by the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment. And that’s a huge step forward.

A spe­cial con­grat­u­la­tions to the legal teams that fought dis­crim­i­na­tion in the courts. This is a vic­to­ry that they will long be remem­bered for.