Obama Administration Urges Supreme Court To Strike Down California Anti-Gay Marriage Ban

[WestVirginiaRebel]

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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court Thursday to declare that it was unconstitutional for California to pass an amendment in 2008 excluding same-sex couples from marriage — a dramatic turnaround from just four years ago, when the White House defended the federal law that bans recognition of such marriages.

"California law provides to same-sex couples registered as domestic partners all the legal incidents of marriage, but it nonetheless denies them the designation of marriage allowed to their opposite-sex counterparts. Particularly in those circumstances, the exclusion of gay and lesbian couples from marriage does not substantially further any important governmental interest. Proposition 8 thus violates equal protection," Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. wrote for the administration.

The administration's new stance is outlined in a brief filed to the Supreme Court in the challenge to California's Proposition 8. While it stops short of calling on the court to declare a nationwide end to bans on marriage for same-sex couples, it calls for the court to strike down Proposition 8 — the only issue directly before the court — and sets up a strong argument against other bans.

The filing comes on the last day the court is accepting amicus curiae, or friend of the court, briefs in the case that was brought in 2009 by the American Foundation for Equal Rights. Although the administration has told the court that it should hold the Defense of Marriage Act's federal definition of marriage as unconstitutional, it had not taken a position until Thursday on whether California could deny same-sex couples the right to marry.

In a statement, Attorney General Eric Holder said, "In our filing today in Hollingsworth v. Perry, the government seeks to vindicate the defining constitutional ideal of equal treatment under the law. Throughout history, we have seen the unjust consequences of decisions and policies rooted in discrimination. The issues before the Supreme Court in this case and the Defense of Marriage Act case are not just important to the tens of thousands Americans who are being denied equal benefits and rights under our laws, but to our Nation as a whole."

The position is another long step forward in President Obama's long evolution on LGBT rights.

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Gay marriage going national?