Edith “Edie” Windsor filed a petition in New York state Monday against the Defense of Marriage Act, a law was recently found unconstitutional in California and Massachusetts. The 83-year-old lesbian asked the state’s Supreme Court to review her case “thus bypassing a second round in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals,” the Huffington Post is reporting. The lawsuit follows closely on the heels of an Obama administration request earlier this month asking the high court to review the constitutionality of DOMA.
Windsor’s lawsuit referenced a federal estate tax that assessed her $383,000 on her partner’s estate. The couple, Windsor and Thea Spyer, were married in Canada in 2007, and they were together for more than 40 years. While the state of New York recognized the marriage, it was not recognized federally, and thus the tax was applied. Windsor’s case surrounds the unfair disadvantage of having had paid the tax – a tax she would not have had to pay if she was married to a man.
On June 6, the New York District Court sided with Windsor. The case will now further to federal court to determine whether or not DOMA is unconstitutional. If the higher court sides with Windsor, New York will join other federal courts in California and Massachusetts which have already ruled against DOMA.
