Edith Windsor

WASHINGTON — Concluding two days of intense debate, the Supreme Court signaled Wednesday it could give a boost to same-sex marriage by striking down the federal law that denies legally married gay spouses a wide range of benefits offered to other couples. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court has released the audio and transcript of Wednesday's hearing challenging the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal law that prevents legally married gay couples from receiving a range of federal benefits that go to married people. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- Edith Windsor emerged from the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to loud cheers from marriage equality supporters gathered outside the high court, on this second day of back-to-back same-sex marriage cases. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON — In the second of back-to-back gay marriage cases, the Supreme Court is turning to a constitutional challenge to the law that prevents legally married gay Americans from collecting federal benefits generally available to straight married couples. [ Read more → ]

Edith Windsor, the New York widow who was forced to pay $363,000 in estate taxes in 2009 upon the death of her spouse, Thea Spyer, made her case to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, filing a brief in her challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). [ Read more → ]

The Obama administration on Friday filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing why it considers the federal Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional. [ Read more → ]

The U.S. Supreme Court does not have the authority to rule on the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, argued a Harvard professor in a brief filed Thursday with the high court. [ Read more → ]

Republican members of the U.S. House leadership on Tuesday told the U.S. Supreme Court it should uphold the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as constitutional, arguing that gays and lesbians are a powerful interest group, and do not warrant "judicial intervention." [ Read more → ]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear arguments during the last week of March in two cases affecting same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

The U.S. Supreme Court has announced the schedule for submitting legal briefs in pending DOMA litigation, making the deadline for the first round of such documents Jan. 22. [ Read more → ]

One of two cases that the Supreme Court has decided to hear in the coming year will challenge the Defense of Marriage Act. Although this is ostensibly a legal case, it is really about competing narratives – and there is nothing same-sex marriage opponents offer that comes close to the touching tale of Edie Windsor and her deceased wife Thea Spyer. Their struggle not only tugs at the heartstrings, it transforms the heart into a marionette, dancing merrily to sappy love songs. This case screams out for fair resolution, and the court runs the risk of delegitimizing itself as draconian and doctrinaire if it denies this couple justice. [ Read more → ]

While marriage equality supporters have been giving thanks for the recent ballot box victories and the Second Circuit’s Windsor v. U.S. decision, the most recent Defense of Marriage strike-down by a federal court in mid-October, the law-focused among us are also looking ahead to the next big question: What will the U.S. Supreme Court do on Nov. 30, when it is scheduled to decide on the marriage-related cert petitions pending before it? [ Read more → ]

The Obama administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to make the case of an 83-year-old New York lesbian who had to pay $363,000 in estate taxes its highest priority among the pending lawsuits challenging the Defense of Marriage Act. [ Read more → ]

NEW YORK -- A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that the federal “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) unconstitutionally discriminates against married same-sex couples. [ Read more → ]

NEW YORK — The House Republican attorney defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court took particular issue on Thursday with an octogenarian lesbian’s case against by the law by suggesting the timing and location of her marriage makes challenge invalid. [ Read more → ]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday included no same-sex marriage cases in its first announcement of what lower court decisions it will review during the 2012-13 session. Legal activists will almost certainly begin speculating now whether the high court is preparing to refuse to hear an appeal to preserve California’s same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8. That action could come as early as Monday, October 1, or be pending for weeks. [ Read more → ]

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday filed legal briefs with the Supreme Court asking justices to take up two additional cases challenging the Defense of Marriage Act upon their return from summer recess. [ Read more → ]

The state of Vermont on Friday joined New York and Connecticut in asking a federal appeals court to rule that the law defining marriage as between a man and a woman is unconstitutional. [ Read more → ]

House Democrats are yet again interceding on behalf of litigation challenging the Defense of Marriage Act — this time as one of 15 parties expected to file legal briefs before an appellate court in a case involving a lesbian New York widower. [ Read more → ]

The U.S. Supreme Court has set at least three cases related to marriage equality and same-sex partner benefits for conference on Sept. 24, including the federal case against California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 voter-approved constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]