NOVEMBER 3, 2011 - The Mass LGBTQ Bar along with 30 other bar associations, public-interest organizations, and legal service organizations filed a brief as amici curiae before the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in support of affirmance of the judgment by U.S District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro holding the Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional under equal protection and federalism grounds. 

On May 2010, Judge Tauro struck down DOMA in Gill et al. v. Office of Personal Management et al. as unconstitutional for violating the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment. In a companion case, Massachusetts v. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services et al., Judge Tauro struck down DOMA as an unconstitutional excercise of the Spending and a violation of state rights under the Tenth Amendment. Gill was filed by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) on behalf of various gay and lesbian couples and individuals within Massachusetts. Massachusetts was filed by the Office of Attorney General Martha Coakley. 

In the brief filed today with the court, amici argue that classification based on sexual orientation warrant heightened scrutiny. The brief was authored by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lambda Legal, National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), and the law firm Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP.

 You may read the brief by clicking here.