The Obama administration beseeched the Supreme Court to get rid of a section in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) due to its unconstitutional discrimination.
DOMA is a federal law passed in 1996 that defines marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman. Section three of the law allows government to deny benefits that are granted to same sex couples like Social Security survivors benefits.
“Section 3 of DOMA violates the fundamental constitutional guarantee of equal protection,” the U.S. said in a brief.
According to NPR, the brief was filed in the United States v. Windsor case. Arguments are scheduled on March 27th.
“The law denies to tens of thousands of same-sex couples who are legally married under state law an array of important federal benefits that are available to legally married opposite-sex couples,” the brief reads.