The Justice Department’s announced decision on Wednesday that it will no longer defend the constitutionality of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act in two cases challenging the act sent shockwaves throughout the legal and political world. Section 3 of DOMA, which was signed into law in 1996, defines marriage to be “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.”
The Am Law Daily, a Daily Report affiliate, reached out to Roberta Kaplan, a litigation partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, to talk about the impact and consequences of the Obama administration’s decision. Kaplan represents plaintiff Edith Windsor in Windsor v. United States, one of two cases in recent months to challenge the constitutionality of Section 3 of DOMA. Windsor, an 81-year-old widow, brought her suit in Manhattan Federal District Court in November after she was forced to pay $350,000 in federal estate taxes because of the government’s refusal to recognize her marriage to Thea Spyer. The second case, Pedersen v. The Office of Personnel Management, was filed in Connecticut Federal District Court in November.
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