A federal judge on Monday dismissed on a technicality a challenge filed by a California couple to the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA).

DOMA bars the federal government from treating same-sex marriages as legal or granting federal benefits to same-sex spouses.

The case became notorious earlier this year when the Obama administration filed a brief defending DOMA. In that first brief, the DOJ used used anti-gay arguments that one LGBT advocate described as “malicious and outrageous”.

After the flurry of criticism of its initial brief, DOJ filed a second brief last week in which it said, “This administration does not support DOMA as a matter of policy, believes that it is discriminatory, and supports its repeal.”

But despite his criticism of the law, the top DOJ lawyer who filed the second brief, said that the law is probably constitutional and should not be overturned by a court. The brief says DOJ would argue for this and other laws, even when it “disagrees” with them if “reasonable arguments can be made in support of their constitutionality.” 

Calif. court challenge to DOMA dismissed on technicality [contd.]

In the brief, Assistant Atty. Gen. Tony West argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the couple who filed it, Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer of Mission Viejo, had failed to identify any personal harm suffered because of the 1996 law, Los Angeles Times reports.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter did not address the merits of the DOMA law in his decision today that dismisses the suit, but agreed with West’s argument that the couple does not have a cause of action. He ruled that the absence of “an injury in fact” meant the court lacked jurisdiction to consider the broader constitutional questions.

“There is no point for us to go down the line of decision-making and waste time,” he said during a hearing in Santa Ana, Calif, according to the Associated Press.

Smelt and Hammer had also filed suit in California superior court. That action was dismissed earlier this year on similar grounds, as their marriage is legal in California.

Brian Raum, a lawyer with the anti-gay religious advocacy group Alliance Defense Fund, hailed Monday’s ruling, according to Christian Post.

“[W]e are pleased that this challenge to the federal law defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman has been dismissed,” said Raum, whose legal group is representing ProtectMarriage.com, which was allowed to intervene as a defendant in the lawsuit in May.

Source: Federal judge dismisses suit arguing the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional -- latimes.com

state_ca, doma