9th Circuit tosses out legal challenge to federal DOMA and Calif. marriage laws defended by ADF attorneys
Federal appeals court dismisses lawsuit brought by same-sex couple denied marriage license in Orange County
Friday, May 05, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO — Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit dismissed an appeal brought by two men who challenged the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s marriage laws. The decision was a victory for Alliance Defense Fund attorneys representing Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund, an organization committed to protecting marriage in California.

“Marriage has become an emotional issue because political special interests agitate to reduce it to a mere benefits system for emotionally attached couples. But marriage is about fostering a long term commitment of biological parents to raise their children together,” ADF Senior Legal Counsel Byron Babione, who argued the before the court on behalf of the Proposition 22 Fund. “A marriage license does not certify one person’s love for another; it provides a legal framework to protect the children that result from the marriage.”

DOMA defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The Plaintiffs had argued that DOMA deprived them of their constitutional right to receive marriage benefits under federal law because the two men are of the same-sex. the rest