vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Democratic Party (United States)
The 2004 Democratic National Platform stated that marriage should be defined at the state level and it repudiated the Federal Marriage Amendment . The 2008 platform , while not stating support of same - sex marriage , called for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act , which banned federal recognition of same - sex marriage and removed the need for interstate recognition , supported antidiscrimination laws and the extension of hate crime laws to LGBT people , and opposed the do n't ask , do n't tell military policy . The 2012 platform included support for same - sex marriage and for the repeal of DOMA .
Defense of Marriage Act
Clinton did not mention DOMA in his 2004 autobiography . Over time , Clinton 's public position on same - sex marriage shifted . He spoke out against the passage of California 's Proposition 8 and recorded robocalls urging Californians to vote against it . In July 2009 , he officially came out in support for same - sex marriage .
Defense of Marriage Act
The bill moved through Congress on a legislative fast track and met with overwhelming approval in both houses of the Republican - controlled Congress . On July 12 , 1996 , with only 65 Democrats and then Rep. Bernie Sanders ( Independent - Vermont ) and Rep. Steve Gunderson ( Republican - Wisconsin ) , in opposition , 342 members of the U.S. House of Representatives -- 224 Republicans and 118 Democrats -- voted to pass DOMA . Then , on September 10 , 1996 , 84 Senators -- a majority of the Democratic Senators and all of the Republicans -- voted in favor of DOMA . Democratic Senators voted for the bill 32 to 14 ( with Pryor of Arkansas absent ) , and Democratic Representatives voted for it 118 to 65 , with 15 not participating . All Republicans in both houses voted for the bill with the sole exception of the one openly gay Republican Congressman , Rep. Steve Gunderson of Wisconsin .
Defense of Marriage Act
On February 24 , the Department of Justice notified the First Circuit Court of Appeals that it would `` cease to defend '' Gill and Massachusetts as well . On July 1 , 2011 , the DOJ , with a filing in Golinski , intervened for the first time on behalf of a plaintiff seeking to have DOMA Section 3 ruled unconstitutional , arguing that laws that use sexual orientation as a classification need to pass the court 's intermediate scrutiny standard of review . The DOJ made similar arguments in a filing in Gill on July 7 .
Defense of Marriage Act
In re Kandu , a same - sex couple in the state of Washington , who had married in Canada , attempted to file a joint bankruptcy petition , but were not allowed to do so . Wilson v. Ake , an unsuccessful attempt by a Florida same - sex couple , married in Massachusetts , to have their marriage license accepted in Florida . Smelt v. Orange County and Smelt v. United States , In February 2004 , Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer sued Orange County , California , in federal court for refusing to issue them a marriage license . The district court ruled that the couple did not have standing to challenge Section 2 of DOMA and rejected their challenge to the constitutionality of Section 3 . On May 5 , 2006 , the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dismissed the suit , and on October 10 the United States Supreme Court refused to consider the couple 's appeal . On March 9 , 2009 , the same couple , having legally married in California , filed Smelt v. United States , challenging the constitutionality of DOMA and California 's Proposition 8 . District Judge David O. Carter dismissed the case on August 24 , because the couple had not applied for and been denied any federal benefit and therefore lacked `` an injury in fact . '' Bishop v. United States , two lesbian couples in Oklahoma , one of which couples sought a marriage license and the other to have the state recognize either their Canadian marriage or their Vermont civil union . The court stayed consideration of the case pending the outcome of Windsor . Later it ruled the couple challenging Section 2 did not have standing , but ruled Oklahoma 's same - sex marriage ban unconstitutional under Bishop v. Oklahoma .
Defense of Marriage Act
While his stated position was against same - sex marriage , Clinton criticized DOMA as `` unnecessary and divisive '' , and his press - secretary called it `` gay baiting , plain and simple '' . However , after Congress had passed the bill with enough votes to override a presidential veto , Clinton signed DOMA . Years later , he said that he did so reluctantly in view of the veto - proof majority , both to avoid associating himself politically with the then - unpopular cause of same - sex marriage and to defuse momentum for a proposed Federal Amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning same - sex marriage . Clinton , who was traveling when Congress acted , signed it into law promptly upon returning to Washington , D.C. , on September 21 , 1996 ; no signing ceremony was held for DOMA and no photographs were taken of him signing it into law . The White House released a statement in which Clinton said `` that the enactment of this legislation should not , despite the fierce and at times divisive rhetoric surrounding it , be understood to provide an excuse for discrimination , violence or intimidation against any person on the basis of sexual orientation '' .
Defense of Marriage Act
Bi-national same - sex couples were kept from legally living in the United States by DOMA 's Section 3 , which prevented one spouse from sponsoring the other for a green card . Following some uncertainty after the Obama Administration determined Section 3 to be unconstitutional , the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ( USCIS ) reaffirmed its policy of denying such applications . With respect to obtaining a visitor 's visa , Bureau rules treated bi-national same - sex spouses the same as bi-national opposite - sex unmarried partners under the classification `` cohabiting partners '' .
Defense of Marriage Act
In Baehr v. Miike ( 1993 ) , the Supreme Court of Hawaii ruled that the state must show a compelling interest in prohibiting same - sex marriage . This finding prompted concern among opponents of same - sex marriage , who feared that same - sex marriage might become legal in Hawaii and that other states would recognize or be compelled to recognize those marriages under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution . The House Judiciary Committee 's 1996 Report called for DOMA as a response to Baehr , because `` a redefinition of marriage in Hawaii to include homosexual couples could make such couples eligible for a whole range of federal rights and benefits '' .
Defense of Marriage Act
President Barack Obama 's 2008 political platform endorsed the repeal of DOMA . On June 12 , 2009 , the Justice Department issued a brief defending the constitutionality of DOMA in the case of Smelt v. United States , continuing its longstanding practice of defending all federal laws challenged in court . On June 15 , 2009 , Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese wrote an open letter to Obama that asked for actions to balance the DOJ 's courtroom position : `` We call on you to put your principles into action and send legislation repealing DOMA to Congress . '' A representative of Lambda Legal , an LGBT impact litigation and advocacy organization , noted that the Obama administration 's legal arguments omitted the Bush administration 's assertion that households headed by opposite - sex spouses were better at raising children than those headed by same - sex spouses .
Defense of Marriage Act
Gary Bauer , head of the socially conservative Family Research Council , predicted the issue would be `` a major battleground in the 1990s '' . In 1991 , Georgia Attorney General Michael J. Bowers withdrew a job offer to a lesbian who planned to marry another woman in a Jewish wedding ceremony . In 1993 , a committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America released a report asking Lutherans to consider blessing same - sex marriages and stating that lifelong abstinence was harmful to same - sex couples . The Conference of Bishops responded , `` There is basis neither in Scripture nor tradition for the establishment of an official ceremony by this church for the blessing of a homosexual relationship . '' In a critique of radicalism in the gay liberation movement , Bruce Bawer 's A Place at the Table ( 1993 ) advocated the legalization of same - sex marriage .
Defense of Marriage Act
On August 13 , 2009 , during Netroots Nation , when confronted by LGBT activist Lane Hudson , Clinton explained that he had to sign DOMA in order to prevent a constitutional amendment that would proscribe same - sex marriage : `` We were attempting at the time , in a very reactionary Congress , to head off an attempt to send a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage to the states . And if you look at the eleven referenda much later -- in 2004 , in the election -- which the Republicans put on the ballot to try to get the base vote for President Bush up , I think it 's obvious that something had to be done to try to keep the Republican Congress from presenting that . ''
Defense of Marriage Act
On December 7 , 2012 , the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case . Oral arguments were heard on March 27 , 2013 . In a 5 -- 4 decision on June 26 , 2013 , the Court ruled Section 3 of DOMA to be unconstitutional , declaring it `` a deprivation of the liberty of the person protected by the Fifth Amendment . ''
Defense of Marriage Act
On October 27 , 2011 , the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network ( SLDN ) brought suit in federal court on behalf of several military servicemembers and veterans in same - sex marriages . In a November 21 filing in the case of McLaughlin v. Panetta , they wrote , `` Any claim that DOMA , as applied to military spousal benefits , survives rational basis review is strained because paying unequal benefits to service members runs directly counter to the military values of uniformity , fairness and unit cohesion . '' The benefits at issue include medical and dental benefits , basic housing and transportation allowances , family separation benefits , visitation rights in military hospitals , and survivor benefit plans . The case was assigned to Judge Richard G. Stearns . One of the plaintiffs in the case , lesbian Charlie Morgan , who was undergoing chemotherapy , met with an assistant to Boehner on February 9 , 2012 , to ask him to consider not defending DOMA . The case is on hold at the request of both sides in anticipation of the outcome of two other First Circuit cases on appeal , Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services . On February 17 , the DOJ announced it could not defend the constitutionality of the statutes challenged in the case . In May 2012 , the parties filed briefs arguing whether BLAG has a right to intervene . On June 27 , Stearns asked the parties to explain by July 18 why given the decision in Windsor he should not find for the plaintiffs . On July 18 , BLAG 's response acknowledged that `` ( t ) he Supreme Court recently resolved the issue of DOMA Section 3 's constitutionality '' and asked to be allowed to withdraw from the case . It took no position on the two statutes at issue in the case , which define a `` spouse '' as `` a person of the opposite sex '' , except to say that `` the question of whether ( that definition ) is constitutional remains open '' .
Defense of Marriage Act
On June 13 , 2011 , 20 of the 25 judges of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California signed an opinion in the case in re Balas and Morales that found that a same - sex married couple filing for bankruptcy `` have made their case persuasively that DOMA deprives them of the equal protection of the law to which they are entitled . '' The decision found DOMA Section 3 unconstitutional and dismissed BLAG 's objections to the joint filing :
Defense of Marriage Act
Numerous plaintiffs have challenged DOMA . Prior to 2009 , all federal courts upheld DOMA in its entirety .
Defense of Marriage Act
On September 28 , 2011 , in Lui v. Holder , U.S. District Court Judge Stephen V. Wilson rejected a challenge to DOMA , citing Adams v. Howerton ( 1982 ) . The plaintiffs in that case had unsuccessfully challenged the denial of immediate relative status to the same - sex spouse of an American citizen . Early in 2012 , two bi-national same - sex couples were granted `` deferred action '' status , suspending deportation proceedings against the non-U.S. citizen for a year . A similar Texas couple had a deportation case dismissed in March 2012 , leaving the non-citizen spouse unable to work legally in the United States but no longer subject to the threat of deportation .
Defense of Marriage Act
In May 2011 , DOMA - based challenges by the Department of Justice to joint petitions for bankruptcy by married same - sex couples were denied in two cases , one in the Southern District of New York on May 4 and one in the Eastern District of California on May 31 . Both rulings stressed practical considerations and avoided ruling on DOMA .
Defense of Marriage Act
The New York Times said the question was `` all but dormant '' until the late 1980s when , according to gay activists , `` the AIDS epidemic ... brought questions of inheritance and death benefits to many people 's minds . '' In May 1989 , Denmark established registered partnerships that granted same - sex couples many of the rights associated with marriage . In the same year , New York 's highest court ruled that two homosexual men qualified as a family for the purposes of New York City 's rent - control regulations . Within the movement for gay and lesbian rights , a debate between advocates of sexual liberation and of social integration was taking shape , with Andrew Sullivan publishing an essay `` Here Comes the Groom '' in The New Republic in August 1989 arguing for same - sex marriage : `` A need to rebel has quietly ceded to a desire to belong . '' In September 1989 , the State Bar Association of California urged recognition of marriages between homosexuals even before gay rights advocates adopted the issue .
Defense of Marriage Act
In an op - ed written on March 7 , 2013 , for The Washington Post , Clinton again suggested that DOMA was necessary in order to preclude , at that time , the passage of a constitutional amendment banning same - sex marriage and urged the Supreme Court , which would shortly hear arguments on United States v. Windsor , to overturn DOMA .
Defense of Marriage Act
Tracey Cooper - Harris , an Army veteran from California , sued the Veterans Administration and the DOJ in federal court on February 1 , 2012 , asking for her wife to receive the benefits normally granted to spouses of disabled veterans . BLAG sought a delay in Cooper - Harris v. United States pending the resolution of Golinski , which the attorneys for Cooper - Harris , the Southern Poverty Law Center , opposed . The court denied BLAG 's motion on August 4 . In February 2013 , Judge Consuelo Marshall rejected the DOJ 's argument that the case could only be heard by the Board of Veterans ' Appeals and allowed the case to proceed . BLAG asked to withdraw from the lawsuit on July 22 . Bankruptcy
Defense of Marriage Act
After careful consideration , including a review of my recommendation , 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 .
Defense of Marriage Act
On March 4 , 2011 , Boehner announced that the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group ( BLAG ) would convene to consider whether the House of Representatives should defend DOMA Section 3 in place of the Department of Justice , and on March 9 the committee voted 3 -- 2 to do so .
Defense of Marriage Act
Gill v. Office of Personnel Management ( 12 - 13 as BLAG v. Gill ) Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services ( 12 - 15 as Dept. of HHS v. Massachusetts , 12 - 97 ) Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management ( 12 - 16 OPM v. Golinski ) Windsor v. United States ( 12 - 63 ) Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management ( 12 - 231 )
Defense of Marriage Act
The 2000 Republican Party platform endorsed DOMA in general terms and indicated concern about judicial activism : `` We support the traditional definition of ' marriage ' as the legal union of one man and one woman , and we believe that federal judges and bureaucrats should not force states to recognize other living arrangements as marriages . '' The Democratic Party platform that year did not mention DOMA or marriage in this context .
Defense of Marriage Act
While the case was on appeal to the Ninth Circuit , on July 3 , 2012 , the DOJ asked the Supreme Court to review the case before the Ninth Circuit decides it so it can be heard together with two other cases in which DOMA Section 3 was held unconstitutional , Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services . The Supreme Court chose to hear Windsor instead of these cases , and following the Supreme Court decision in Windsor the Ninth Circuit dismissed the appeal in Golinski with the consent of all parties on July 23 .
Defense of Marriage Act
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a brief supporting Windsor 's claim on July 26 , 2011 . Same
Defense of Marriage Act
On July 8 , 2010 , Tauro issued his rulings in both Gill and Massachusetts , granting summary judgment for the plaintiffs in both cases . He found in Gill that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act violates the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution . In Massachusetts he held that the same section of DOMA violates the Tenth Amendment and falls outside Congress ' authority under the Spending Clause of the Constitution . Those decisions were stayed after the DOJ filed an appeal on October 12 , 2010 .
Defense of Marriage Act
On June 6 , 2012 , Judge Barbara Jones ruled that based on rational basis review Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional and ordered the requested tax refund be paid to Windsor . The plaintiff commented , `` It 's thrilling to have a court finally recognize how unfair it is for the government to have treated us as though we were strangers . '' Windsor 's attorneys filed a petition of certiorari with the Supreme Court on July 16 , asking for the case to be considered without waiting for the Second Circuit 's review . On October 18 , the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court 's ruling that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional . According to an ACLU press release , this ruling was `` the first federal appeals court decision to decide that government discrimination against gay people gets a more exacting level of judicial review '' In an opinion authored by Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs , the Second Circuit Court of Appeals stated :
Defense of Marriage Act
On February 22 , 2012 , White ruled for Golinski , finding DOMA `` violates her right to equal protection of the law under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution . '' He wrote that Section 3 of DOMA could not pass the `` heightened scrutiny '' or the `` rational basis '' test . He wrote ,
Defense of Marriage Act
The General Accounting Office issued a report in 1997 identifying `` 1,049 federal statutory provisions classified to the United States Code in which benefits , rights , and privileges are contingent on marital status or in which marital status is a factor '' . In updating its report in 2004 , the GAO found that this number had risen to 1,138 as of December 31 , 2003 . With respect to Social Security , housing , and food stamps , the GAO found that `` recognition of the marital relationship is integral to the design of the program ( s ) . '' The report also noted several other major program categories that were affected -- veterans ' benefits , including pensions and survivor benefits ; taxes on income , estates , gifts , and property sales ; and benefits due federal employees , both civilian and military -- and identified specifics such as the rights of the surviving spouse of a creator of copyrighted work and the financial disclosure requirements of spouses of Congress members and certain officers of the federal government . Education loan programs and agriculture price support and loan programs also implicate spouses . Financial aid to `` family farms '' for example , is restricted to those in which `` a majority interest is held by individuals related by marriage or blood . ''
Defense of Marriage Act
Later cases focused on Section 3 's definition of marriage . The courts , using different standards , have all found Section 3 unconstitutional . Requests for the Supreme Court to hear appeals were filed in five cases , listed below ( with Supreme Court docket numbers ) :
Constitution of the United Kingdom
Magna Carta 1215 -- clauses 1 , 9 , and 29 , as enumerated in 1297 , remain in statute ; asserts the freedom of the English church , the liberties of the City of London among others , and establishes the right to due process . Bill of Rights 1689 -- asserts certain rights of Parliament and the individual , and limits the powers of the monarch ; the Parliament of Scotland passed the Claim of Right Act 1689 Crown and Parliament Recognition Act 1689 -- confirms the succession to the throne and the validity of the laws passed by the Convention Parliament Act of Settlement 1701 -- settles the succession of the Crown ; agreed by Scotland as part of the Treaty of Union Acts of Union 1707 -- union of England ( which at the time included Wales ) and Scotland Acts of Union 1800 -- union of Great Britain and Ireland Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 -- asserts the supremacy of the House of Commons by limiting the legislation - blocking powers of the House of Lords Life Peerages Act 1958 -- establishes standards for the creation of life peers which gives the Prime Minister the power to change the composition of the House of Lords Emergency Powers Act 1964 -- provides power to employ members of the armed forces in work of national importance European Communities Act 1972 -- incorporates European law into UK law House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 -- prohibits certain categories of people , such as judges , from becoming members of the House of Commons Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975 -- governs ministerial salaries British Nationality Act 1981 -- revises the basis of British nationality law Senior Courts Act 1981 ( originally Supreme Court Act 1981 ) -- defines the structure of the Senior Courts ( then called the Supreme Court ) of England and Wales Representation of the People Act 1983 -- updates the British electoral process Scotland Act 1998 -- creates the Scottish Parliament and devolves certain powers to it Government of Wales Act 1998 -- creates the Welsh Assembly and devolves certain powers to it Northern Ireland Act 1998 -- creates the Northern Ireland Assembly and devolves certain powers to it Human Rights Act 1998 -- incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law House of Lords Act 1999 -- reforms the House of Lords removing most hereditary peers Civil Contingencies Act 2004 -- establishes a framework for national and local emergency planning and response
Defense of Marriage Act
On November 9 , 2010 , the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm Paul , Weiss , Rifkind , Wharton & Garrison filed United States v. Windsor in New York on behalf of a surviving same - sex spouse whose inheritance from her deceased spouse had been subject to federal taxation as if they were unmarried . New York is part of the Second Circuit , where no precedent exists for the standard of review to be followed in sexual - orientation discrimination cases .