Schneiderman: Supreme Court Should Promote Equal Protection Under The Law For All Americans And Strike Down Marriage Discrimination
WASHINGTON – With the U.S. Supreme Court set to hear oral arguments on two landmark cases involving same-sex marriage, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman today called on the Court to ensure equal protection under the law for all Americans by striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8.
Last month, Attorney General Schneiderman led a coalition of more than a dozen states in filing a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of United States v. Windsor, which argues that DOMA violates same-sex couples’ right to equal protection under the law as required by the U.S. Constitution and represents an unprecedented intrusion on the authority of States to regulate marriage and promote equality for their citizens. Attorney General Schneiderman also joined a friend-of-the-court brief in the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, urging the Supreme Court to hold that California’s ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. California banned same-sex marriage in a ballot proposition, known as Proposition 8, that amended the state constitution ban same-sex marriage.
The following statement is attributable to Attorney General Schneiderman:
“The Supreme Court should strike down the federal law that undermines the efforts of New York, eight other states and the District of Columbia to provide equal rights and protection under the law for same-sex couples, as well as the California law that took away marriage equality that had previously existed in that State. The State of New York has long recognized out-of-state same-sex marriages, and the enactment of the Marriage Equality Act further cemented our State’s position on this critical civil rights issue. My office will work every day to fight discrimination and defend the fundamental guarantee of equal protection under law for all New Yorkers.”
For more information on the two friend-of-the-court briefs in United States v. Windsor and Hollingsworth v. Perry, click here: http://www.ag.ny.gov/press-release/ag-schneiderman-leads-multistate-coalition-urging-us-supreme-court-overturn-defense
A copy of the Attorney General’s amicus brief filed in the case of United States v. Windsor can be read here: www.ag.ny.gov/pdfs/bsac_States.pdf