The Obama administration has decided that it will no longer defend a section of the Defense of Marriage Act which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman.
In a statement on Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that upon review of the provision, “the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny.”
“The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases. I fully concur with the President’s determination.”
Obama’s decision means that the Department of Justice will not defend the law in two cases that have been filed in a federal appeals court in New York. Last year, a federal judge in Boston found Section 3 to be in violation of the Constitution.