BOSTON — A U.S. appeals court Thursday declared that the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutionally denies federal benefits to married gay couples, a groundbreaking ruling all but certain to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The unanimous ruling said the 1996 law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman discriminates against gay couples because it doesn’t give them the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples.
The ruling was very narrowly defined and did not address the specific issue of same sex marriage.
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One more step in the long march in the right direction.
Which will allow the Supremes to say that if a state allows gay marriage, then gays can have rights, but if not — no luck?
That’s narrow, all right.
No, because Scalia will notice that this helps people and establishes a more just and equal society, and therefore strike it down as contrary to the manifest spirit of the 3/5ths clause.