The Department of Justice announced today that it believes courts should apply heightened scrutiny to laws that classify people on sexual orientation such as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender statuses. In light of the heightened awareness, the Defense of Marriage Act is now in the spotlight.
In wake of the news, Attorney General Eric Holder wrote in a statement that the department will no longer defend Section 3 of DOMA, which defines marriage as a man and a woman under federal laws.
Holder raised the issue since Section 3 of DOMA has been challenged in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
The U.S. Supreme Court has not responded directly to the DOJ court concerns or Holder’s statements regarding the repeal of Defense of Marriage Act.
The DOJ and Holder were prompted to scrutinize the laws surrounding DOMA as new anti-LGBT laws were filed in court.
The cases in question, both filed on Nov. 9, 2010, were brought by the ACLU and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). The DOJ’s deadlines for responding to the ACLU case, Windsor v. United States, and the GLAD case, Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management, were approaching in coming weeks.
Holder said in his statement, “the Administration faces for the first time the question of whether laws regarding sexual orientation are subject to the more permissive standard of review or whether a more rigorous standard, under which laws targeting minority groups with a history of discrimination are viewed with suspicion by the courts, should apply.’”
After making the determination that heightened scrutiny should indeed apply, Holder later wrote in the statement, “The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional.”
“Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases.” Holder said in his statement.
Holder supported President Obama’s decision.
The DOJ did not specify how the ‘”heightened scrutiny” would be immediately implemented.
Read what Dianne Feinstein has to say on the matter.
