Norton Sees Likely Overturn of DOMA with Special Benefits for Gay D.C. Residents

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said today that D.C. residents will be among the first Americans to benefit if the Supreme Court rules that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. Norton, a member of the Supreme Court bar and tenured Georgetown University law professor, said that she is encouraged that the gay plaintiff may prevail in the DOMA case because the federal government has always deferred to state marriages in the past.

In considering the plaintiff's claim (that if the federal government had recognized her marriage in New York, she would not have had to pay $363,000 in federal estate taxes), DOMA discriminates against lawfully married gay couples by only providing federal benefits and rights to married straight couples.

"The District, along with nine states, has been a pioneering jurisdiction in expanding civil rights to gay residents," said Norton. "Our residents and thousands of other Americans have benefited from the city's insistence that non-discrimination principles apply to all, including gay couples. Yet married gay couples have paid a tangible price in federal benefits that were denied only because of their sexual orientation. If DOMA is struck down, D.C. residents and others who were married here will be among the first to benefit and may benefit disproportionately in part because of the large number of residents who are federal employees, whose spouses would benefit from federal employee benefits, including health care."

D.C.'s marriage rate doubled the first year after D.C.'s marriage equality law passed, in 2009. Norton, a champion of gay marriage, has successfully fought against congressional efforts, including six attempts in the Senate, to overturn D.C.'s marriage equality.

Published: March 27, 2013