CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that the gay community is so politically powerful that it does not need special protections, citing the rapid change in public opinion over same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n\t\u201cI suppose the sea change has a lot to do with the political force and effectiveness of people representing\u201d gay marriage, Roberts said March 27 while listening to arguments over the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).<\/p>\n
\t\u201cAs far as I can tell, political figures are falling over themselves to endorse your side of the case,\u201d he told Roberta Kaplan, the attorney representing Edith Windsor, who contracted a civil union with another woman in New York.<\/p>\n
\tThe case in question, United States v. Windsor, concerns the 1996 law which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman for federal purposes.<\/p>\n
\tThe court had heard arguments the day before in a case concerning Proposition 8, a California measure similarly recognizing marriage as existing solely between a man and a woman. Decisions in both cases are expected in late June.<\/p>\n
\tWindsor had to pay more than $350,000 in inheritance taxes after the death of her partner because although the state of New York recognized them as being \u201cmarried,\u201d the federal government did not.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tWindsor consequently filed a lawsuit claiming that DOMA violated her equal protection rights. The law is being defended by Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, because President Obama's Department of Justice has refused to do so since 2011, when the president said he believed the law to be unconstitutional and discriminatory.<\/p>\n
\tLawyers for both sides of the argument began by addressing questions of jurisdiction, and then moved on to the merits of the case. Justices voiced skepticism that they could even decide the case, because it is not being defended by the executive branch.<\/p>\n
\tSince family law is normally the prerogative of states to regulate, not the federal government, several justices were intent on discussing Congress' right to define marriage.<\/p>\n
\tHowever, Attorney Paul Clement, representing House Republicans, said that DOMA is not federal regulation of marriage, but instead acts to preserve states' rights, to prevent the federal government from recognizing same-sex \u201cmarriages\u201d in one state and thereby pressuring other states to acknowledge them as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\tSeveral justices also questioned Congress' intent in adopting DOMA, suggesting that it was based not on concerns of uniformity, but out of dislike, fear or animus toward homosexuals as a group.<\/p>\n
\tAnother significant question debated during the hearing was which standard of review should be used to judge the law. Normally in such cases, legislation is examined according to whether it is reasonably related to a \u201clegitimate\u201d government interest, in order to determine if there is a \u201crational basis\u201d for the law.<\/p>\n
\tIn some cases, however, a \u201cheightened\u201d level of scrutiny is applied. In these instances, a law must be \u201cnarrowly tailored\u201d to achieve a \u201ccompelling\u201d government interest. This standard of review is applied when a \u201cfundamental right\u201d is at stake or the legislation targets race, religion or some other \u201csuspect classification,\u201d which is determined through criteria such as political powerlessness and historical discrimination.<\/p>\n
\tClement defended DOMA's constitutionality by saying it was adopted for the sake of uniformity: \u201cit defines the term (marriage) wherever it appears in Federal law in a consistent way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThis intent to \u201cprovide uniform treatment of taxpayers\u201d across state lines serves as a \u201crational basis\u201d for the law, he argued.<\/p>\n
\tHowever, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli argued against DOMA on behalf of the Obama administration, suggesting that the law should be subject to a higher level of scrutiny because it targets \u201ca class that has undeniably been subject to a history of terrible discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tVerrilli argued the statute is unconstitutional because this discrimination denies equal protection of the law to \u201cmarried\u201d same-sex couples, but denied that it poses a federalism problem.<\/p>\n
\tAttorney Roberta Kaplan, who agreed with Verrilli in opposing DOMA, did so for different reasons, saying she does not consider the law to be an equal protection problem, but suggested that there is no \u201clegitimate Federal interest that is being served by Congress's decision \u2026 to undermine the determinations of the sovereign States with respect to eligibility for marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tDiscrimination against \u201cmarried\u201d gay couples\u00a0was the purpose of DOMA, she argued, and it is \u201cundermining the policy decisions made by those States that have permitted gay couples to marry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tKaplan said that when DOMA was passed, there was \u201can incorrect understanding that gay couples were fundamentally different than straight couples.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThat understanding \u201cI don't think exists today,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople\u2026now understand that there is no such distinction. So I'm not saying it was animus or bigotry, I think it was based on a misunderstanding of gay people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBut Justice Antonin Scalia questioned Kaplan about her confidence of that judgment, and noted that there has been a \u201csea change\u201d in public opinion in the years since DOMA was enacted.<\/p>\n
\tWhen Kaplan reiterated that this change was on the basis of a new \u201cunderstanding,\u201d Roberts responded that this could be attributed to the profound political effectiveness of the gay lobby.<\/p>\n
\tRoberts' point suggests that homosexual people\u00a0are not a persecuted class who deserve special protections and \u201cheightened scrutiny,\u201d as Verrilli's argument had suggested.<\/p>\n
\tAdvocates on both sides of the issue will now wait for approximately three months to see how the court will rule in the case, a decision that could have a tremendous impact throughout the nation.<\/p>\n
\n
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