U.S. Supreme Court Issues Two Historic Marriage Equality Rulings

The U.S. Supreme Court today issued two historic marriage equality rulings in cases in which Kramer Levin had filed amicus briefs – U.S. v. Windsor, in which the Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), and Hollingsworth v. Perry, in which the Court dismissed an appeal challenging the decision striking down California’s Proposition 8. The DOMA ruling means that the federal government must now recognize the valid marriages of same-sex couples; the Prop 8 ruling restores equal access to civil marriage for same-sex couples in California.

Kramer Levin filed briefs in both cases on behalf of a broad-based coalition of religious organizations, representing a diverse array of faiths. The firm’s clients were all united in the belief that particular religious views or definitions of marriage should not be permitted to influence who the state permits to marry or how legally married couples are treated by the federal government. They included the Bishops of the Episcopal Church from California and the states that permit same-sex couples to marry; the Manhattan Conference of the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the Unitarian Universalist Association; the United Church of Christ; representatives of Judaism’s Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative Movements (including, among others, The Rabbinical Assembly, The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, The Union For Reform Judaism, and The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism); and groups representing members of the Lutheran, United Methodist, Presbyterian, and Quaker faiths.

Confronting and rebutting arguments by religious supporters of DOMA and Proposition 8 purporting to state a uniform religious position on marriage, the briefs documented the growing range of religious traditions that respect the dignity of lesbian and gay people and their families; solemnize or otherwise honor their relationships; and support civil marriage equality. And stressing the distinction between religious and civil marriage, the briefs made clear that respecting the marriage rights of same-sex couples will not interfere with religious beliefs, practices, or operations, but rather will prevent one set of religious beliefs from being imposed through civil law.

The briefs concluded that “civil recognition of same-sex relationships, including through marriage, is fundamentally consistent with the religious pluralism woven into the fabric of American law, culture, and society” and that striking down DOMA and Proposition 8 would “recognize the creative tension inherent in religions’ interface with our own pluralistic, changing society while confirming that all, regardless of faith, are entitled to equal protection under the law.”

The Kramer Levin team that drafted the two briefs includes litigation partners Jeffrey S. Trachtman and Norman C. Simon and associates Joshua Glick, Jason M. Moff, and Kurt M. Denk. Kramer Levin has played a leading role in pro bono LGBT rights litigation for nearly two decades. The firm has previously submitted amicus briefs in Boy Scouts v. Dale and Lawrence v. Texas, two landmark LGBT rights cases before the United States Supreme Court, and served as co-counsel in Hernandez v. Robles, which sought equal marriage rights under the New York constitution.