BBC News, 7
December 2012
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| The hearings at the Supreme Court will be the first time the justices have considered the issue of gay marriage |
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The US Supreme Court has agreed for the first time to hear challenges to laws banning gay marriage in the US.
The court will hear challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act (Doma), which defines
marriage as between a man and a woman.
It will
also consider Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment in California that
overturned a state law allowing gay weddings.
The court
is likely to hear the cases in March next year.
A ruling
could be issued in June.
Both
Proposition 8 and Doma have been previously struck down by lower courts.
The Supreme
Court has the option of reversing the lower judgements - thus reinstating both
laws - or upholding them, which could afford gay weddings legal status under
the US Constitution.
However,
the justices have also reserved the right to decide that they do not have
jurisdiction to hear the cases.
'Unfair
discrimination'
Backers of
the California case argue that voters in the state breached the US Constitution
by passing Proposition 8.
They will
argue that a state Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriage to go ahead
should stand. No gay weddings are currently allowed in California, pending the
outcome of the Proposition 8 case.
Doma, a
federal law signed by former President Bill Clinton, has been overturned by
four federal courts and two courts of appeal. They said Doma unfairly
discriminated against same-sex couples.
It was most
recently rejected by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, which ruled
2 to 1 on October that it violated the equal protection clause of the
Constitution.
President
Barack Obama, who backed gay marriage in May, also took the unusual step of
announcing that his administration would not back Doma in court.
Although
the federal government no longer defends Doma, it is the New York case, first
brought by a widow called Edith Windsor, that the Supreme Court will hear.
She was
forced to pay more than $350,000 (£220,000) in taxes after the death of her
wife because Section 3 of Doma defines "marriage" and
"spouse" as only relating to unions of men and women.
The law is
supported by Republicans in Congress, and lawyers acting for the House of
Representatives leadership are defending the law instead of the US government.
The court
was also asked to consider the merits of a challenge to part of a 2009 Arizona
law granting marital benefits only to legally married state employees. Gay
marriage is not legal in Arizona.
But the
nine justices chose not to hear that case, instead opting for the two cases
analysts say offer a chance of a broad ruling.
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| Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community and supporters attend the 5th Delhi Queer Pride parade in New Delhi on November 25, 2012. AFP |
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