Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, and author of the Respect for Marriage Act, the bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), cheered today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court striking down Section 3 of DOMA as an unconstitutional deprivation of the equal liberty guarantee of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.  By defining marriage for purposes of federal law as “only a legal union between one man and one woman,” Section 3 denied married gay and lesbian couples recognition under federal law.

“This is a tremendous victory for Edie Windsor and for this nation,” said Nadler.  “Today’s ruling affirms what we stand for as Americans – the guarantee that every person and every family is given equal respect under the law.  It means that married same-sex couples can participate fully in federal programs that provide much-needed security for American families.  For my constituent and neighbor, Edie Windsor, money that she was forced to pay in estate tax following the death of her beloved wife, Thea Spyer, will be returned, helping to ensure that Edie has the resources she needs.   Far beyond this, today’s ruling also means that Edie and Thea – their lifelong commitment to each other and lawful marriage – will finally receive their government’s equal respect and support.” 

“We should rejoice and celebrate today, but our work is not yet done.  The Court has ruled that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional, but Congress still must repeal the law in its entirety.  That is why I am reintroducing my bill, the Respect for Marriage Act. which will send DOMA into the history books where it belongs.”

In the case before the Supreme Court, United States v. Windsor, the federal government taxed Edith (Edie) Windsor – one of Congressman Nadler’s constituents – when her spouse, Thea Spyer, passed away in 2009.  The couple first met in the 1960s and married in 2007, after a forty-year engagement.  Yet when Thea died, the federal government treated them as complete strangers because of DOMA, significantly reducing Edie’s inheritance by depriving her of the estate tax marital deduction that otherwise allows a married couple to pass property to the surviving spouse without tax penalty.

Congressman Nadler spearheaded a congressional amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court in Edie Windsor’s case.  That brief, joined by 211 of Congressman Nadler’s House and Senate colleagues, argued that there is no legitimate federal interest in denying married same-sex couples the same security and responsibility that federal law provides to all other couples who are married under state law. 

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