U.S. House Files Motion to Intervene in GLAD’s DOMA Challenge
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives filed a motion to intervene in Gill v. Office of Personnel Management the multi-plaintiff challenge to Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), filed by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) with co-counsel Foley Hoag LLP, Sullivan & Worcester and Jenner & Block in March 2009.
On July 8, 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro ruled that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional with respect to claims brought by the seven married same-sex couples and three widowers represented in the case. The case is now on appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
“As always, we are prepared to address whatever comes our way,” said Mary L. Bonauto, GLAD’s Civil Rights Project Director and lead attorney in Gill. “We are eager to move forward and end the serious harms that are experienced not only by our plaintiffs and their families, but by same-sex married couples all over this country.”
GLAD filed a second DOMA challenge, Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management, representing plaintiffs from Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire, in November 2010. GLAD will soon have a briefing schedule in that case, where the House of Representatives has also sought to intervene.
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Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders is New England's leading legal organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status, and gender identity and expression.