Fifth Amendment: How It Was Crucial in Getting Rid Of DOMA

In a historic victory for gay rights, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday morning in United States v. Windsor that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional in a 5-4 decision split along partisan lines.

The majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, found that DOMA is a violation of the "equal protection" clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

"[It's] no surprise to me that it was struck down," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)saidjust minutes after the ruling was announced.

"This admission by the court that this bill was unconstitutional was a very important decision for our country, for not only what it means in the lives of people, but also it sends a message of not to be frivolous with the issue of discrimination in our country, and that's what this is about: discrimination," she said.

The Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law signed by President Bill Clinton, defined marriage for legal purposes as the union between a man and a woman as husband and wife.

Section 3 of the act barred federal benefits for same-sex couples even in states where same-sex marriage is legal.

The plaintiff in the monumental Supreme Court challenge against DOMA, Edith Windsor, faced the brunt of this discriminatory act. 83-year-old Windsor, who was widowed when her wife Thea Spyer died in 2009, was forced to pay more than $363,000 in federal estate taxes on her partner's estate. She argued that she would have paid no federal state taxes had federal law deemed her marriage the same status as a heterosexual marriage and decided to sue the governmentafter the Internal Revenue Service denied her refund request for the $363,000 in federal estate taxes she paid.

Windsor's experience, however, was not an isolated case.

According to theHuman Rights Campaign,"DOMA singles out lawfully married same-sex couples for unequal treatment under federal law, allowing states torefuse recognitionof valid civil marriages and denying same-sex couples more than 1,100 federal benefits and protections."

The DOMA opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, declared that the 1996 law violated the Fifth Amendment's equal-protection provision.

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Fifth Amendment: How It Was Crucial in Getting Rid Of DOMA