UPDATE: Supreme Court Decision a 'Giant Step Forward,' Thompson Says

UPDATE: 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 26, 2013
U.S Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, issued the following response to this morning's Supreme Court decision on gay rights:

“Today, the Supreme Court took a stand for equal justice under the law, ruling that laws that deny equality are immoral, unjust and unfair," Thompson said.

"This is a giant step forward, but we must continue working until every American has the right to marry whoever they love no matter where you live.”

ORIGINAL STORY: 8 a.m. Wednesday, June 26, 2013.
Reaction is just coming in to this morning's Supreme Court decision on the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California's Prop. 8 appeal.

According to CBS News, the two-part decision, on balance, is a big win for gay rights.

The first part, CBS said, was a 5-4 ruling to "strike down a provision on the 17-year-old Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that denies federal benefits -- like Social Security benefits or the ability to file joint tax returns -- to same-sex couples legally married."

According to CBS: "The impact of the DOMA case, however, is clear. DOMA impacts around 1,100 federal laws, including veterans' benefits, family medical leave and tax laws. There are about 130,000 married same-sex couples in the United States today who up to this point were treated as unmarried as it pertained to those federal laws."

The second part of today's ruling, dismissing the appeal on Prop. 8, while possibly having limited impact, is expected to likely allow for same-sex marriage to resume in California.

To read the article and view the CBS video, click here.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has said that in the event that the Supreme Court ruled on the standing issue, he expected same-sex weddings in the California to resume by late July. That timing includes 25 days in which Proposition 8 sponsors could ask the court for a rehearing, plus several days for a federal appeals court to issue a mandate dismissing the appeal. 

But there could be further litigation about the scope of the trial court ruling striking down Proposition 8. 

Herrera and lawyers for two couples who challenged Proposition 8 say the injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker requires California officials to license and register same-sex marriages statewide. 

The sponsors of Proposition 8 have said in court filings, however, that they think Walker's injunction would apply only to the two individual couples who challenged Proposition 8. 

The couples, who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in San Francisco in 2009, are Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier of Berkeley and Paul Katami and Jeffrey Zarrillo of Burbank.

—Bay City News Service contributed to his report. Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. – Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

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