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TACOMA, Wash. (BP)—In the first ruling of its kind, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled Aug. 17 that the Defense of Marriage Act does not violate the U.S. Constitution.
The ruling in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Washington state is the first time that a federal court has ruled on the constitutionality of DOMA, the 1996 law that prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex “marriage.” The law also gives states the option of not recognizing another state’s same-sex “marriage.”
“[T]his Court concludes that same-sex marriage is not a fundamental right ....” Judge Paul B. Snyder wrote in a 30-page opinion.
The case began when an American lesbian couple received a marriage license in British Columbia, Canada, and subsequently filed jointly for bankruptcy in the United States. One of the women, Ann C. Kandu, died in March. Following her partner’s death and after learning that the two women could not file jointly, Lee Kandu—the debtor—decided to challenge the Defense of Marriage Act.
Kandu’s lawyer argued that DOMA violated the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth, Fifth and Tenth Amendments, but Synder disagreed on each count.
Unlike an ongoing federal challenge to DOMA in Florida, the Washington case did not involve the Constitution’s full faith and credit clause.
Pro-family groups praised the ruling.
“This is just more evidence that same-sex ‘marriage’ is not inevitable,” Glen Lavy of the pro-family Alliance Defense Fund told Baptist Press. “This is a battle that we can win.”
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