DOMA, the federal Defense of Marriage Act, today was again declared unconstitutional by a federal court — the second time in five days — this time in a unanimous decision by a three-judge court of appeals panel which includes two Republican-appointed judges. The court ruled against Speaker of the House John Boehner’s hand-picked lawyer for the BLAG, Paul Clement, whom U.S. taxpayers are paying up to $1.5 million to defend DOMA. With this ruling, now five federal court judges have declared DOMA unconstitutional.
READ:Â Breaking: DOMA Ruled Unconstitutional By Federal Judge, Yet Again
Think Progress reports:
A three judge panel of The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit just handed down a decision declaring the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. Notably, the panel included Judges Juan Torruella and Michael Boudin, both of whom are Republican appointees. Judge Boudin, who authored the opinion, is one of the most highly regarded judges in the country; he frequently sends his former law clerks to clerk for Supreme Court justices.
The AP adds:
The appeals court agreed with a lower court judge who ruled in 2010 that the law is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define marriage and denies married gay couples federal benefits given to heterosexual married couples, including the ability to file joint tax returns.
During arguments before the court last month, a lawyer for gay married couples said the law amounts to “across-the-board disrespect.” The couples argued that the power to define and regulate marriage had been left to the states for more than 200 years before Congress passed DOMA.
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.