United States v. Windsor

United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. 744 (2013), is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case

concerning same-sex marriage . The Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal recognition of same-sex marriages, was a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment .

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**United States v. Windsor **

Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer, a same-sex couple residing in New York , had their marriage recognized by the state of New York in 2008; Spyer died in 2009, leaving her entire estate to Windsor. Windsor sought to claim the federal estate tax exemption for surviving spouses , but was barred from doing so by Section 3 of DOMA. Seeking a refund, Windsor sued the federal government in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York . As the Department of Justice declined to defend the constitutionality of Section 3 of DOMA, the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) intervened to defend the law. District Judge Barbara S. Jones ruled that Section 3 of DOMA was unconstitutional, and her ruling was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit .

The Supreme Court granted certiorari in December 2012 and handed down its judgment on June 26, 2013. In the majority opinion, which was joined by four other justices, Justice Anthony Kennedy declared Section 3 of DOMA to be unconstitutional "as a deprivation of the liberty of the person protected by the Fifth Amendment". He further wrote: "The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity." Four justices filed dissenting opinions, including Justice Antonin Scalia , who argued that the Court had "no power under the Constitution to invalidate this democratically adopted legislation".

On the same day, the Court also issued a separate 5–4 decision in _Hollingsworth v. Perry _ that effectively allowed same-sex marriage in California to resume. Following the decision, the Obama administration began to extend other federal rights, privileges, and benefits to married same-sex couples. Two years later, in the case of _Obergefell v. Hodges _ (2015), the Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, ruling that marriage is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause .

Contents

• 1 Background

  • 1.1 District Court

  • 1.2 Court of Appeals

  • 1.3 United States Supreme Court

• 2 Opinion of the Court

  • 2.1 Majority opinion

  • 2.2 Dissents

• 3 Responses and analysis

• 4 Impact and implementation

• 5 Judicial interpretation

  • 5.1 State courts

  • 5.2 Federal courts

  • 5.3 Sexual orientation as a suspect class

• 6 See also

• 7 Notes

• 8 References

• 9 Further reading

• 10 External links

Background

(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_v._Windsor&action=edit&section=1 "Edit section: Background")

Edith "Edie" Windsor (née Schlain) was born in Philadelphia on June 20, 1929, to a Russian Jewish immigrant family of modest means. During her childhood, her father lost both his candy-and-ice-cream store and his house during the Great Depression , and she at times experienced anti-Semitism . After graduating from Temple University , she married Saul Windsor. They divorced less than one year afterward, and she confided to him that she longed to be with women sexually. The divorced Edie Windsor soon moved to New York City to pursue a master's degree in mathematics at New York University ; in time, she would become one of the first female senior systems programmers at IBM .

Thea Clara Spyer was born in Amsterdam on October 8, 1931, to a wealthy Jewish family that escaped the Holocaust by fleeing to the United States before the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands .

Spyer enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College , but was expelled after a campus guard saw her and another woman kissing.

She received a bachelor's degree from the New School for Social Research , and a master's degree and PhD in clinical psychology from City University of New York and Adelphi University , respectively. In addition to her private psychology practice in Manhattan, Spyer was an accomplished violinist. She met Windsor in 1963 at a West Village restaurant, and the two began dating after they reconnected in the Hamptons during Memorial Day weekend of 1965. Windsor had first suggested engagement in 1965. Spyer proposed to her in 1967 but presented her with a diamond brooch instead of an engagement ring, fearing that Windsor would be stigmatized at work if her colleagues knew about her relationship.

In 2007, the pair, both residents of New York, married in Toronto , Ontario, under the provisions set forth in the Canadian _[Civil Marriage Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Marriage_Act "Ci

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