The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles opined today that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional as it pertains to joint bankruptcy filing.
MetroWeekly reports that the case in question involves same-sex married couple Gene Douglas Balas and Carlos A. Morales and, in the words of the court, comes down to “equality, regardless of gender or sexual orientation” for two people who filed for protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
The court explained that Balas and Morales were denied access to joint filing due to their status as two male individuals, even though they were legally married at the time they filed the petition and remain so to this day. Balas and Morales’ filing was deemed invalid under DOMA’s definition of “spouse” as applied to Bankruptcy Code § 302(a); and while the United States Trustee moved to dismiss the case on these grounds, the couple’s plea – which was filed one day after President Obama announced his intention to cease defense of DOMA – has yet to draw any notable response from DOMA defenders as represented by the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group.
In a statement released yesterday, the court concluded that “the government’s only basis for supporting DOMA comes down to the apparent belief that the moral views of the majority may properly be enacted as the law of the land in regard to state-sanctioned same-sex marriage.” The court notes that such a belief is inconsistent with the Fifth Amendment, and adds that it “has no doubt about its conclusion” naming DOMA as unconstitutional in that it deprives Balas and Morales “equal protection of the law to which they are entitled.”
Read the court’s full opinion online: 57794777-DOMA-Memorandum-of-Decision.pdf
