Striking down DOMA a ‘results-driven, outcome-oriented decision,’ critics say
Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS , May 31, 2012, ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – A federal court ruled part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional today in a decision critics called illogical and extreme, setting up another battle over the definition of marriage at the U.S. Supreme Court . A three-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston struck down the law’s definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman for the federal government. That provision kept homosexual couples from receiving tax breaks and certain federal benefits such as Social Security survivor payments reserved for married couples. The court ruled the national government must grant such federal benefits to same-sex partners in the eight states that recognize such unions. The decision upheld the right of each state to define marri...