Washington D.C., Jun 16, 2009 / 16:07 pm
Although the Department of Justice filed a brief defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) last week, the Obama administration has made it clear that promoting same-sex “marriage” will be an important focus of its political agenda.
Last Friday, the Department of Justice filed a brief to dismiss a federal lawsuit brought against DOMA, an act that allows states that limit marriage to a man and a woman to be exempt from recognizing homosexual “marriages” from other states. The act had been challenged by a gay couple in California who claimed that it had violated their rights.
In its brief, the Department of Justice stated that the question at hand was not one of “whether a same-sex couple may marry within the United States,” a matter determined by individual state legislation. Instead, the brief said, the case was a matter of “whether the federal government and State governments that do not recognize gay marriage should be constitutionally required to extend to them the benefits and privileges that they extend to traditional marriage.”
In examining this question, the Justice Department found that “there is no constitutional right to State or federal financial benefits,” and it therefore labeled DOMA a “valid exercise of Congress’ power.”
Furthermore, the Department of Justice noted that “while the Supreme Court has held that the right to marry is 'fundamental,' that right has not been held to encompass the right to marry someone of the same sex.”