PRESENTATION OUTLINE
DATE OF COURT CASE
- Argued March 27, 2013
- Decided June 26, 2013
Where/History
This took place in New York and IRS denied Windsor of spousal estate tax exception under "DOMA" or Defense of Marriage Act
"Basic explanation of case"
Windsor paid $363,053 dollars in estate taxes and wanted a refund but the IRS denied it.
The Supreme Court was basically being asked if DOMA is being unconstitutional.
The court case had a tremendous effect if the federal government will have a say in defining marriage and it could make federal benefits available to many same sex married couples
The overall issue is if section 3 of DOMA violates the right of equal protection of same-sex couples (aka 5th amendment) who are married under state laws
A Little Background on Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer met in New York City in 1963.
They were registered as domestic partners in the state of New York in 1993.
Spyer was battling a heart disease but despite the disease they got married in Canada in 2007
Spyer died in February 2009 and left Windsor as a widower and also left the estate with her
The department of justice denied to defend the section 3 to be constitutional but BLAG or Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group stepped up to defend the Law.
The president and the attorney general both agreed that the actions DOMA were doing against Windsor was unconstitutional
On June 26, 2013 the ruling was affirmed and the vote was a close 5-4 by Justice Kennedy
The majority vote was justice Kennedy, justice Ginsburg, justice Breyer, justice Sotomayor, and justice Kagan
The minority vote was Justice Roberts, justice Scalia, justice Thomas, justice Alito
