m******1
发帖数: 19713 | 1 Edith Windsor, an 83-year-old New York widow forced to pay more than $363,
000 in estate taxes because the federal government did not recognize her
marriage to her late spouse Thea Spyer, filed a petition Monday asking the
Supreme Court to hear her challenge against the Defense of Marriage Act.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the petition, known as a writ of
certiorari, on behalf of Windsor with Roberta Kaplan and others attorneys
from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and the Stanford Law
School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. The petition argues that Windsor’s
case “presents a question of exceptional national importance: the
constitutionality of a statute, the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), that
daily affects the lives of thousands of Americans.”
“The Government has declined to defend its constitutionality, but continues
to enforce the statute pending resolution by this Court,” they wrote. “
Thus, individuals like petitioner continue to suffer serious consequences
from the Government’s failure to recognize their lawfully solemnized
marriages.”
Three federal courts in three districts have ruled section 3 of DOMA, which
prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages,
unconstitutional. Judge Barbara Jones, a federal district court judge in New
York, struck down the 1996 law last month in Windsor v. United States. The
case is on an expedited appeal schedule in the Second Circuit with oral
arguments anticipated for late September, but attorneys for Windsor argue
that the Supreme Court should hear the matter now.
“In light of the number of decisions and range of analysis presented in
recently decided cases, the issue is ready for decision by this Court and no
purpose would be served by further delay,” they wrote.
Since the Obama administration announced last year that it would no longer
defend DOMA, the Republican-led House of Representatives has taken up the
law’s defense through its Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group. The Justice
Department and BLAG have asked the Supreme Court to hear DOMA challenges in
two other cases in the past month. In the first, Gill v. Office of Personnel
Management, a federal appeals court in Boston had ruled DOMA
unconstitutional in May, while the second case, Golinski v. Office of
Personnel Management, is still on appeal in the Ninth Circuit.
“With Edie’s case and the two others, the high court has before it
striking illustrations of the many different harms that DOMA inflicts on
many thousands of married same-sex couples all across the country,” said
James Esseks, director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender
Project, in a statement. “Edie and Thea got married after making a life-
long commitment to each other, and it’s just wrong for the government to
pretend that they were legal strangers.”
Windsor and Spyer lived together for more than 40 years in New York City,
where Windsor cared for Spyer after she was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis in 1977. The couple married in Canada in 2007, and when Spyer died
in 2009, Windsor, who spent her career as an IBM programmer, had to pay
more than $363,000 in estate taxes solely because the federal government did
not recognize her marriage. As a result, she filed a lawsuit in 2010 that
challenged DOMA as a violation of her equal protection rights.
“Edie Windsor, who recently celebrated her 83rd birthday, suffers from a
serious heart condition,” said Roberta Kaplan in the news release. “
Because the District Court’s ruling in her favor is entitled to an
automatic stay of enforcement, Edie cannot yet receive a refund of the
unconstitutional estate tax that she was forced to pay simply for being gay.
The constitutional injury inflicted on Edie should be remedied within her
lifetime.” | t*******e
发帖数: 2113 | 2
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【在 m******1 的大作中提到】
: Edith Windsor, an 83-year-old New York widow forced to pay more than $363,
: 000 in estate taxes because the federal government did not recognize her
: marriage to her late spouse Thea Spyer, filed a petition Monday asking the
: Supreme Court to hear her challenge against the Defense of Marriage Act.
: The American Civil Liberties Union filed the petition, known as a writ of
: certiorari, on behalf of Windsor with Roberta Kaplan and others attorneys
: from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and the Stanford Law
: School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. The petition argues that Windsor’s
: case “presents a question of exceptional national importance: the
: constitutionality of a statute, the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), that
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