Historic US rulings for gay marriage
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26 June 2013
Last updated at 16:45 GMT
They declined to rule on California's prohibition of same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8, leaving in place a lower court's strike-down of the ban.
Opinion polls indicate that most Americans support gay marriage.
Wednesday's decisions do not affect the bans on same-sex marriage enshrined in the constitutions of more than 30 US states.
Twelve US states and the District of Columbia currently recognise gay marriage.
'We are more free' The Doma decision means that legally married gay men and women will have access to the same federal entitlements that are available to opposite-sex married couples. These include tax, health and pension benefits and family hospital visits.
The twin 5-4 rulings were greeted with celebrations by gay advocates outside the Supreme Court in Washington DC and nationwide.
The legal challenge to Doma was brought by New York resident Edith Windsor, 83.
She was handed a tax bill of $363,000 (£236,000) when she inherited the estate of her spouse Thea Speyer - a levy she would not have had to pay if she had been married to a man.
"Doma writes inequality into the entire United States Code," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the ruling.
"Under Doma, same-sex married couples have their lives burdened, by reason of government decree, in visible and public ways," the decision added.
"Doma's principal effect is to identify a subset of state-sanctioned marriages and make them unequal."
Lower courts had also decided in Ms Windsor's favour, ruling that Doma did not treat all married couples equally.
In the wake of the Doma opinion, US President Barack Obama, who is on a state visit to the West African country of Senegal, said: "When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free."
'No authority' Proposition 8 is a ban on gay marriage passed by California voters in November 2008, just months after the state's supreme court decided gay marriage was legal.
Two same-sex couples launched a legal challenge against
Proposition 8. But as the state of California refused to defend it, the
group that sponsored the measure stepped up to do so.
On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court said a private party did not have the right, or "standing", to defend the constitutionality of a law.
"We have no authority to decide this case on the merits," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion, which was not split along ideological lines.
The court also said the party defending the ban could not demonstrate that they would suffer injury if the law were to be struck down.
The four dissenting justices said they believed the court should have addressed the constitutional question of same-sex marriage before them in the Proposition 8 case.
Further litigation could lie ahead for the California ban, analysts say.
About 18,000 same-sex couples were married in California in the less than five months that same-sex marriages were permitted there.
Doma was signed into law in 1996 by former President Bill Clinton after it was approved in Congress with bipartisan support.
But it was subsequently struck down by several lower courts.
In 2011, President Obama said that while he would continue to enforce Doma, his administration would not defend it in court. So Republicans from the House of Representatives argued in favour of the measure.
House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said he was disappointed with the ruling on Doma.
"A robust national debate over marriage will continue in the public square, and it is my hope that states will define marriage as the union between one man and one woman," he said.
Last year, Mr Obama became the first sitting president to publicly endorse same-sex marriage.
US Supreme Court in historic rulings on gay marriage
Continue reading the main story
The
US Supreme Court has struck down a law denying federal benefits to gay
couples and cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California.
The justices said that the Defense of Marriage Act, known as Doma, discriminated against same-sex couples.They declined to rule on California's prohibition of same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8, leaving in place a lower court's strike-down of the ban.
Opinion polls indicate that most Americans support gay marriage.
Wednesday's decisions do not affect the bans on same-sex marriage enshrined in the constitutions of more than 30 US states.
Twelve US states and the District of Columbia currently recognise gay marriage.
'We are more free' The Doma decision means that legally married gay men and women will have access to the same federal entitlements that are available to opposite-sex married couples. These include tax, health and pension benefits and family hospital visits.
In Washington, DC people talked to the BBC about the rulings
The legal challenge to Doma was brought by New York resident Edith Windsor, 83.
She was handed a tax bill of $363,000 (£236,000) when she inherited the estate of her spouse Thea Speyer - a levy she would not have had to pay if she had been married to a man.
"Doma writes inequality into the entire United States Code," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the ruling.
"Under Doma, same-sex married couples have their lives burdened, by reason of government decree, in visible and public ways," the decision added.
"Doma's principal effect is to identify a subset of state-sanctioned marriages and make them unequal."
Lower courts had also decided in Ms Windsor's favour, ruling that Doma did not treat all married couples equally.
In the wake of the Doma opinion, US President Barack Obama, who is on a state visit to the West African country of Senegal, said: "When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free."
'No authority' Proposition 8 is a ban on gay marriage passed by California voters in November 2008, just months after the state's supreme court decided gay marriage was legal.
A military woman and her wife explain why Doma has made their life as a married couple difficult
On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court said a private party did not have the right, or "standing", to defend the constitutionality of a law.
"We have no authority to decide this case on the merits," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion, which was not split along ideological lines.
The court also said the party defending the ban could not demonstrate that they would suffer injury if the law were to be struck down.
The four dissenting justices said they believed the court should have addressed the constitutional question of same-sex marriage before them in the Proposition 8 case.
Further litigation could lie ahead for the California ban, analysts say.
About 18,000 same-sex couples were married in California in the less than five months that same-sex marriages were permitted there.
Doma was signed into law in 1996 by former President Bill Clinton after it was approved in Congress with bipartisan support.
But it was subsequently struck down by several lower courts.
In 2011, President Obama said that while he would continue to enforce Doma, his administration would not defend it in court. So Republicans from the House of Representatives argued in favour of the measure.
House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said he was disappointed with the ruling on Doma.
"A robust national debate over marriage will continue in the public square, and it is my hope that states will define marriage as the union between one man and one woman," he said.
Last year, Mr Obama became the first sitting president to publicly endorse same-sex marriage.
- Gay people against gay marriage
- Gay marriage around the world
-
Q&A: Same-sex marriage in the US26 June 2013 Last updated at 16:45 GMT
Continue reading the main storyThe US Supreme Court has struck down a law denying federal benefits to gay couples and cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California.The justices said that the Defense of Marriage Act, known as Doma, discriminated against same-sex couples.
They declined to rule on California's prohibition of same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8, leaving in place a lower court's strike-down of the ban.
Opinion polls indicate that most Americans support gay marriage.
Wednesday's decisions do not affect the bans on same-sex marriage enshrined in the constitutions of more than 30 US states.
Twelve US states and the District of Columbia currently recognise gay marriage.
'We are more free' The Doma decision means that legally married gay men and women will have access to the same federal entitlements that are available to opposite-sex married couples. These include tax, health and pension benefits and family hospital visits.
The twin 5-4 rulings were greeted with celebrations by gay advocates outside the Supreme Court in Washington DC and nationwide.In Washington, DC people talked to the BBC about the rulings
The legal challenge to Doma was brought by New York resident Edith Windsor, 83.
She was handed a tax bill of $363,000 (£236,000) when she inherited the estate of her spouse Thea Speyer - a levy she would not have had to pay if she had been married to a man.
"Doma writes inequality into the entire United States Code," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the ruling.
"Under Doma, same-sex married couples have their lives burdened, by reason of government decree, in visible and public ways," the decision added.
"Doma's principal effect is to identify a subset of state-sanctioned marriages and make them unequal."
Lower courts had also decided in Ms Windsor's favour, ruling that Doma did not treat all married couples equally.
In the wake of the Doma opinion, US President Barack Obama, who is on a state visit to the West African country of Senegal, said: "When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free."
'No authority' Proposition 8 is a ban on gay marriage passed by California voters in November 2008, just months after the state's supreme court decided gay marriage was legal.
Two same-sex couples launched a legal challenge against Proposition 8. But as the state of California refused to defend it, the group that sponsored the measure stepped up to do so.A military woman and her wife explain why Doma has made their life as a married couple difficult
On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court said a private party did not have the right, or "standing", to defend the constitutionality of a law.
"We have no authority to decide this case on the merits," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion, which was not split along ideological lines.
The court also said the party defending the ban could not demonstrate that they would suffer injury if the law were to be struck down.
The four dissenting justices said they believed the court should have addressed the constitutional question of same-sex marriage before them in the Proposition 8 case.
Further litigation could lie ahead for the California ban, analysts say.
About 18,000 same-sex couples were married in California in the less than five months that same-sex marriages were permitted there.
Doma was signed into law in 1996 by former President Bill Clinton after it was approved in Congress with bipartisan support.
But it was subsequently struck down by several lower courts.
In 2011, President Obama said that while he would continue to enforce Doma, his administration would not defend it in court. So Republicans from the House of Representatives argued in favour of the measure.
House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said he was disappointed with the ruling on Doma.
"A robust national debate over marriage will continue in the public square, and it is my hope that states will define marriage as the union between one man and one woman," he said.
Last year, Mr Obama became the first sitting president to publicly endorse same-sex marriage.
COPY http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
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