Breaking: DOMA Ruled Unconstitutional By Federal Judge, Yet Again
U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken, a federal judge in Oakland, California, late Thursday struck down as unconstitutional a provision of DOMA, the federal Defense of Marriage Act. This is the second federal judge to rule the same segment of DOMA unconstitutional and at least the fifth federal case to find the 1996 law unconstitutional. President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have also declared the law — which bans same-sex couples from receiving legal federal recognition of their unions, about 1100 benefits afforded automatically to heterosexual couples, and defines marriage as one man, one woman — unconstitutional, and are refusing to defend it in court.
“Wilken issued her ruling in a lawsuit filed against the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, known as CalPERS, by same-sex couples. The system has refused to let gay spouses enroll in its federally approved insurance program on the ground that they were excluded by DOMA,” an article by the Bay City News Service published in The Herald reported:
Wilken said the DOMA ban violated the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal treatment. She wrote that there was no proof the DOMA provision was “rationally related to a legitimate government interest.”
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of San Francisco issued a similar ruling” in February in a lawsuit filed by Karen Golinski, a federal appeals court staff attorney who wants to enroll her wife in
the court’s employee health plan.An appeal of White’s decision by a Republican-led Congressional group is slated to be heard by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in September.
The group, known as the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, is made up of the five top leaders of the House of Representatives. It stepped into both the cases before White and Wilken after the Obama Administration said last year it will no longer defend DOMA.
The group’s three Republican members, including Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, supported intervening in the two lawsuits to defend DOMA. Its two Democratic members, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, opposed doing so.
…
In Thursday’s ruling, Wilken also struck down a U.S. Internal Revenue Service law to the extent that it bars domestic partners from enrolling in the long-term care insurance plan offered by CalPERS.
She ordered CalPERS to begin allowing gay and lesbian spouses and partners to enroll in the plan, but also said she will suspend that order during an appeal if the Congressional group files an appeal.
Wilken had indicated, in two previous rulings in which she declined to dismiss the case, that she was likely to strike down the DOMA provision.
DOMA was previously declared unconstitutional by U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro in two cases on July 8, 2010.
DOMA was also found to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California on June 13, 2011, and in an historic break with tradition, the decision was signed by 20 of the District’s 24 judges.
More recently, in a February decision in Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management case, DOMA was also ruled unconstitutional.
There are currently two companion bills in the U.S. House and Senate to repeal DOMA, but it is widely believed they do not yet have the votes needed to pass.
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A prominent member of the Kennedy family is demanding the resignation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after the Health and Human Services Secretary made inaccurate and damaging claims in a Senate hearing just one day ago.
Secretary Kennedy, an anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist, told U.S. senators that he did not know the number of Americans who died from COVID, denied that his policy decisions were reducing access to the COVID vaccine, spread false or misleading claims about overall vaccine safety, and defended the changes at his agency that have led to the resignations of top officials and protests by employees.
Joe Kennedy III is a former U.S. congressman, a former U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland, and the grandson of the late U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
On Friday, he blasted RFK Jr.
READ MORE: ‘Bananas’: Trump Official Torched for Dismissing Millions of Americans as ‘Nonexistent’
“Robert Kennedy Jr. is a threat to the health and wellbeing of every American,” Kennedy wrote in a statement on social media. “A United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is tasked with protecting the public health of our country and its people. At yesterday’s hearing, he chose to do the opposite: to dismiss science, mislead the public, sideline experts and sow confusion.”
“None of us will be spared the pain he is inflicting. It doesn’t matter how rich or powerful you are or what state you live in — the heartbreak of watching a loved one fall ill knows no borders.”
“The challenges before us-from disease outbreaks to mental health crises-demand moral clarity, scientific expertise, and leadership rooted in fact. Those values are not present in the Secretary’s office. He must resign.”
RELATED: ‘What You Said Were Lies’: Democrat Shreds RFK Jr. in Fiery Exchange
Image via Reuters
A top Trump official is under fire after attempting to downplay the increase in the unemployment rate by declaring all 7 million people as “statistically nonexistent.”
U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer shared with Fox News several inaccurate claims, stating that consumer confidence is up — it’s down — and claiming that real wages are up year over year, almost 4% — when in reality they rose just 1.2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Not only is consumer confidence down, it is “far lower than it was for much of 2023 and 2024,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
She also claimed there is a “blue collar boom,” but Friday’s jobs report reveals blue collar jobs are stagnating, according to economics writer Joey Politano:
“US blue-collar job growth has completely stagnated, hitting the lowest level since the onset of the pandemic—manufacturing is currently losing jobs at a rapid pace, and growth in construction/transportation has slowed to a crawl.”
READ MORE: Rubio Says US Blew Up Alleged Drug Boat ‘On the President’s Orders’ — Legality Questioned
The Labor Secretary acknowledged her words may seem like rhetoric, but maintained “it’s not, because that’s what we’re seeing on the ground” — a claim contradicted by facts.
She also insisted that unemployment is “holding steady.”
“Statistically, it’s nonexistent,” she said, a remark that received tremendous blowback.
“This is a bananas quote,” declared Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). “I get that they are going with ‘nothing to see here please disperse’ but saying 4.3% of the U.S. working population being unemployed is ‘statistically nonexistent’ is a pretty incredible slap in the face from the Secretary of Labor to 7 million people.”
Congressman Beyer also weighed in, writing: “The Trump Administration’s message to 7.4 million unemployed Americans is that ‘statistically’ they are ‘nonexistent.’ A stunningly awful and dishonest thing to say.”
READ MORE: Texas Makes It Easier for Kids to Skip Vaccines After Worst Measles Outbreak in Decades
“You heard that right,” declared U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ). “Struggling Americans looking for a job don’t exist according to the Trump Administration. Most anti-worker admin of my lifetime. Despicable.”
“There are over 7 million people looking for a job right now,” noted U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA). “They matter. They don’t cease to exist because of the Trump Administration’s failed policies.”
U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) added, “Unemployment is rising and the country is losing thousands of jobs. Hard working Americans are feeling the effects of Trump’s reckless economic policies and job-killing tariffs. These are numbers we haven’t seen since the pandemic — this is entirely Trump’s doing.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
VARNEY: Do tariffs have anything to do with the slowing jobs market?
LORI CHAVEZ-DeREMER: Tariffs are working … unemployment is still holding steady. Statistically, it’s nonexistent. pic.twitter.com/ObPkFQBylu
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 5, 2025
READ MORE: ‘Worst Place Since the Pandemic’: Experts ‘Worried’ Over ‘Ominous’ Jobs Report
Image via Reuters
Texas has just moved to make it easier for parents to exempt their children from school vaccination requirements—just weeks after the worst measles outbreak in a generation ended.
762 people contracted measles over the summer. Two unvaccinated children died, and 100 people had to be hospitalized, according to PBS News.
“West Texas was the nation’s measles epicenter for months. The virus started spreading there in close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite communities in Gaines County,” PBS reported. The outbreak was declared over in mid-August.
READ MORE: Rubio Says US Blew Up Alleged Drug Boat ‘On the President’s Orders’ — Legality Questioned
This week, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) began allowing parents to download a form to request their children be exempt from any or all required vaccines. Previously, parents had to request the form, which was then mailed to them, according to The Texas Tribune.
Calling this new system “empowering,” Rebecca Hardy, executive director of Texans for Vaccine Choice, said: “The previous mailed, hard-copy process for requesting vaccine exemption affidavits was outdated, costly to taxpayers, raised privacy and tracking concerns, and created unnecessary barriers for families seeking to exercise their rights.”
DSHS also published a form telling parents the benefits and risks of immunization, but the form is not attached to the exemption request form.
Requests for exemption forms have risen dramatically.
“Since 2018, the requests to the Texas Department of State Health Services for a vaccine exemption form have doubled from 45,900 to more than 93,000 in 2024,” the Tribue reported. “Even before the new form became easier to access, the state received 17,197 requests for a vaccine exemption form in July, 36% higher than the number reported in July 2023.”
READ MORE: ‘Worst Place Since the Pandemic’: Experts ‘Worried’ Over ‘Ominous’ Jobs Report
Texas has more kindergarteners unvaccinated for measles than any other state in the nation, and falls below the 95% immunization rate required to achieve herd immunity.
In what is being called a “public health disaster,” Florida is now in the process of banning all vaccine mandates for children.
It’s not just Texas and Florida.
On Thursday, CNN reported that support for childhood vaccines being mandatory has plunged from 81% in 1991 to just 51% in 2024.
Watch the video below or at this link.
Support for government requiring childhood vaccines against infectious diseases has dropped to just 51%.pic.twitter.com/XIrvj3BwWj
— David Badash (@davidbadash) September 5, 2025
READ MORE: ‘Weak, Weak, Weak’: Trump Economy Getting Worse, Majority of Americans Say
Image via Reuters
‘None of Us Will Be Spared’: Kennedy Scion Rips RFK Jr. in Call for Resignation
‘Bananas’: Trump Official Torched for Dismissing Millions of Americans as ‘Nonexistent’
Texas Makes It Easier for Kids to Skip Vaccines After Worst Measles Outbreak in Decades
‘Weak, Weak, Weak’: Trump Economy Getting Worse, Majority of Americans Say
‘Worst Place Since the Pandemic’: Experts ‘Worried’ Over ‘Ominous’ Jobs Report
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