m******1
发帖数: 19713 | 1 New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine
Quinn filed a brief Wednesday joining their constituent, Edith Windsor, in
asking the Supreme Court to hear her challenge against the Defense of
Marriage Act.
Windsor, 83, is suing the federal government over $363,000 in estate taxes
she was forced to pay after her spouse, Thea Spyer, died in 2009. The couple
was together for more than 40 years and had married in Canada in 2007, but
because of section 3 of DOMA, the federal government did not recognize their
marriage.
U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Jones of New York found the law
unconstitutional in a ruling last month. The case is on an expedited appeal
schedule in the Second Circuit, but earlier this month, Windsor petitioned
the Supreme Court to hear the case now. Her brief stated that the 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.”
In their brief, Bloomberg and Quinn argue that DOMA violates equal
protection and “fatally undermines” the city’s extensive efforts to
protect same-sex couples from discrimination. Figures released Tuesday on
the first anniversary of the New York marriage equality law taking effect
estimate that more than 10,000 same-sex couples were issued marriage
licenses in the state in the past year, with the majority issued in New York
City.
“The City of New York has a particular interest in the outcome of this case
because DOMA deprives married same-sex couples living in New York City of
equal protection for their lawful marriages,” they wrote. “This forces the
City to be the unwilling agent of federally-required separate treatment of
lawfully married City employees, thus undermining the City’s marriage
recognition and anti-discrimination policies. The City’s interests are
aligned with those of the petitioner in establishing that, by depriving
legally married same-sex couples of many substantial benefits available to
married opposite-sex couples, DOMA violates the United States Constitution’
s guarantee of equal protection of the laws.”
Bloomberg and Quinn announced their plan to file a brief last month at the
mayor’s LGBT Pride celebration. It marks the first time the city has filed
its own brief against DOMA, following a brief filed by New York State
attorney general Eric Schneiderman in the case last year. Windsor lives in
Greenwich Village, an area represented by Quinn.
In a telephone interview, Quinn, who married her partner in May, told The
New York Times that, “There is no city with a louder and more important
voice than the City of New York” on the issue of same-sex marriage.
“This deserves to be heard by the highest court,” she said. “It runs so
counter to the concept of what it means to be an American.”
Bloomberg said in a statement, “Government has no business treating one
group different than another and New York City will continue to stand
against DOMA for such discrimination.”
The case is one of three the Supreme Court has been asked to hear in the
past month. Petitions have also been filed in the consolidated case from
Massachusetts, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v.
HHS, and in the Golinski v. OPM case from California. The Bipartisan Legal
Advisory Group controlled by House Republicans is defending the law, after
the Obama administration announced last year it would no longer defend DOMA. | D**S
发帖数: 24887 | 2 Hope he can continue to lend his weight on this just cause. |
|
