Marriage Law Struck Down by Appeals Court

May 31, 2012
By JESS BRAVIN And GEOFFREY A. FOWLER

A federal appeals court in Boston ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional Thursday, finding that the 1996 law denying benefits to same-sex spouses improperly targeted a minority group and infringed on states' prerogatives over family law.

The decision is the second federal appeals ruling this year to side with gay-marriage proponents, after a court in San Francisco struck down a California voter initiative that rescinded a state constitutional right to same-sex marriage.

Neither Thursday's decision, from the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, nor the February ruling by the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, recognized a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage. Both opinions cited narrower grounds to invalidate measures. The courts found that neither the federal Defense of Marriage Act nor California's Proposition 8 could be justified in light of the penalties they imposed on same-sex couples. the rest

Appeals court strikes down DOMA: Tradition doesn't justify unequal treatment