A year ago today, the announcement about the Defense of Marriage Act came by way of a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
“After careful consideration, including a review of my recommendation,” Holder wrote, “the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny. The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases. I fully concur with the President’s determination.”
Three hundred and sixty four days later, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey S. White agreed.
White — who has served as a federal judge for the past decade after being nominated by then-President George W. Bush in 2002 — issued his order and opinion finding Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional in a case brought by Karen Golinski, a federal court employee seeking equal health insurance coverage for her wife.
The case, although not at issue in the initial Holder letter, has become a touchstone of sorts for the ongoing developments about the way the government is dealing with the 1996 law.
When Holder announced his and President Obama’s decision, Boehner soon took action to defend the law. Convening the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group — a five-member body of House leaders controlled by the Republican majority — the body authorized the House counsel to defend the federal definition of marriage in ongoing challenges, including Golinski’s case, in which she is represented by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.
On July 1, 2011, the arguments sketched out in Holder’s six-page letter were expanded to a 31-page filing in Golinski’s case that laid out, in expansive terms, the U.S. government’s “significant and regrettable role” in discrimination in America against gays and lesbians.
The filing did more than simply acknowledge the federal government’s role in discrimination, it explained precisely what the federal government had done. Detailing specific instances of anti-gay and anti-lesbian discrimination, the brief described the 1950 Senate resolution seeking an “investigation” into “homosexuals and other sexual perverts” in government employment and President Dwight Eisenhower’s executive order adding “sexual perversion” as a ground for “possible dismissal from government service.” It also went on to detail the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Postal Service in investigations seeking information about government employees suspected of such “perversion.”
When oral arguments were held on Dec. 16, 2011, on the arguments advanced by Golinski, the Department of Justice and BLAG in her case, DOJ sent the head of the civil division, Assistant Attorney General Tony West, to argue its position. It was, a DOJ spokesperson said at the time, only the second time that West appeared in court as assistant attorney general to argue a case.
Speaking to White, West said at the hearing that “Congress gets to draw the lines [of which benefits it wants to give], but it can’t draw those lines in a way that is arbitrary or discriminatory and disfavors a group which may be unpopular, which is what’s happening with here with the Defense of Marriage Act.”
West told White: “I think the question is squarely whether the federal government can use this classification to make determinations amongst otherwise similarly-situated legally married couples.”
Acknowledging the couple’s legal status, West said, “Ms. Golinski and her wife are already married. So, the only question is whether or not the federal government has a good reason to be able to make these distinctions, to draw these lines.
“And, we think the federal government does not,” he concluded, according to the transcript of the hearing.
Addressing the arguments made in Golinski’s case by BLAG, White wrote, “BLAG argues, but does not explain how denying marriage benefits only to same-sex couples will somehow make marriage between opposite-sex couples better. The proffered justification may derive from strongly-held religious or fundamentally traditional beliefs, but still does not provide a legally recognizable rational basis for sustaining a law that actively discriminates against legally married couples. The exclusion of same-sex couples from the federal definition of marriage does nothing to encourage or strengthen opposite-sex marriages.”
Accordingly, as Holder told Boehner a year ago today, White concluded that exclusion of same-sex couples is unconstitutional.
“In this matter,” White wrote, “the Court finds that DOMA, as applied to Ms. Golinski, violates her right to equal protection of the law under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution by, without substantial justification or rational basis, refusing to recognize her lawful marriage to prevent provision of health insurance coverage to her spouse.”
The U.S. Department of Justice says it has sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics allegedly providing gender-affirming health care to minors, as part of an investigation into accusations of "healthcare fraud" and "false statements." In a press release, the department said it is targeting medical professionals allegedly "involved in performing transgender medical procedures on children."
"Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice," U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases challenging state laws that bar transgender student-athletes from competing on female-designated sports teams at public schools and universities. One of those cases, Little v. Hecox, involves Boise State student Lindsay Hecox, who sued after being denied a spot on the school’s women’s track and cross-country teams under Idaho’s transgender sports ban.
A federal judge blocked Idaho’s law in 2020, finding that it likely violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution and discriminated against Hecox and other transgender athletes based on sex and transgender status. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling in 2023 and again in an amended opinion last year. The state then appealed to the Supreme Court, asking it to decide whether the ban is constitutional.
Owen McIntire, a 19-year-old from Parkville, Missouri, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges after allegedly firebombing Teslas at a Kansas City dealership. The crime could carry up to 30 years in prison if the UMass Boston student is convicted.
McIntire's case was elevated to the Justice Department’s national security division, which typically handles terrorism and espionage cases. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has called the incident “domestic terrorism.”
"Let me be extremely clear to anyone who still wants to firebomb a Tesla property: you will not evade us," Bondi said following McIntire’s arrest in April. "You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You will spend decades behind bars. It is not worth it."
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
Three hundred and sixty four days later, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey S. White agreed.
