National News Alert

Majority of justices question constitutionality of Defense of Marriage Act

A majority of the justices on the Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law which withholds federal benefits from legally wed gay couples by defining marriage as only between a man and a woman.

The Obama administration has said that it would not defend the law, and lower courts have ruled it unconstitutional. At the same time, however, the administration has said it will continue to enforce the law until the Supreme Court rules.

During Wednesday's oral arguments, Justice Antonin Scalia remarked on that contradiction, saying it was a "new world" when the attorney general could decide a law is unconstitutional but still enforce it. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, considered a potential swing vote in the case, called that a "questionable practice."

Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/on-the-second-day-supreme-court-considers-doma/2013/03/26/331bb5ae-966e-11e2-9e23-09dce87f75a1_story.html