President Obama Says DOMA Is Unconstitutional

On orders from President Obama, the Justice Department (DOJ) will stop defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in cases now pending in the federal courts. Attorney General Eric Holder sent a letter to Speaker of the House Boehner explaining that the President and the DOJ re-examined the law in light of two new cases and determined that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional "as applied to same-sex couples legally married under state law." Section 3 states that the federal government recognizes only marriages between a man and woman.