Ding, Dong, DOMA is Dead!

  

   DOMA has just been declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court! The decision was made by a 5-4 vote with Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan voting to legalize same-sex marriages.

"By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment." - Justice Anthony Kennedy

   The Supreme Court struck down a key part of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act yesterday, 26 June, and declared that same-sex couples who are legally married deserve equal rights to the benefits under federal law that go to all other married couples. This Supreme Court decision voids a section of the law known as DOMA, which was adopted with bipartisan support in Congress in 1996 to deny all benefits and recognition to same-sex couples. Almost 20 years later, this repeal has been a long time coming.  

Here's what was going on as it happened: http://projects.nytimes.com/live-dashboard/2013-06-26-supreme-court-gay-marriage?smid=tw-nytimes