Inside the Supreme Court: The Case for Marriage Equality and Oral Argument
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering two cases that deal with marriage equality for gay and lesbian Americans.
On Tuesday, March 26, the Court will hear oral argument in Hollingsworth v. Perry, AFER’s federal constitutional challenge to California’s Proposition 8. Two couples, Kris Perry & Sandy Stier and Paul Katami & Jeff Zarrillo, are represented by Ted Olson and David Boies, who argue that Prop. 8 violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Learn more about the Perry case >
On Wednesday, March 27, the Court will hear oral argument in United States v. Windsor, a challenge to the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 law that prevents the federal government from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples in states with marriage equality. The case involves Edie Windsor, an 83-year-old widow who was forced to pay $363,000 in estate taxes after her wife died, a tax she would not have to pay if she was married to a man. Represented by the ACLU, Ms. Windsor claims that DOMA violates her right to equal protection of the laws.
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