Another Federal Judge Strikes Down DOMA

More bad news today for the Christofascists and their boot licking political prostitutes in the Congressional GOP.   Yet another federal court decision was handed down holding that the Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.  This ruling was handed down in the case of Edie Windsor (pictured at right), who was seeking a refund of the federal estate tax paid by the estate of her late wife (unlike heterosexual couples, legally married same sex couples cannot transfer assets tax free to their spouses upon their death).  DOMA has no rational basis for its discrimination against same sex couples other than the improper intertwining of anti-gay religious beliefs into the nation's laws.  Here are highlights from Think Progress on this new ruling against DOMA:

Another federal judge has struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), finding the law unconstitutional. 

The victory comes in the case of Edie Windsor, who was seeking a refund of the federal estate tax paid by the estate of her late wife. From the ruling:

The Court declares that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional as applied to the Plaintiff. Plaintiff is awarded judgment in the amount of $353,053.00, plus interest and costs allowed by law.

“It does not follow from the exclusion of one group from federal benefits (same-sex married persons) that another group of people (opposite-sex married couples) will be incentivized to take any action, whether that is marriage or procreations.”

It’s another loss for Paul Clement and House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the House of Representatives (“BLAG”), who had claimed that her homosexuality was a “choice.”

Windsor’s attorneys had argued that “DOMA violates the Equal Protection principles of the U.S. Constitution because it recognizes existing marriages of heterosexual couples, but not of same-sex couples, despite the fact that New York State treats all marriages the same.”