Fed. Bankruptcy Court Rejects Wash. DOMA Challenge

August 19, 2004

A federal judge in Tacoma, Washington, in the first challenge to the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, has ruled that the law is not unconstitutional.

The case, heard in bankruptcy court, involved two women who were married in British Columbia last August. Shortly after Lee and Ann Kandu returned home to Washington state, they jointly filed for bankruptcy. Ann Kandu died in March, before the case went to court. Lee Kandu represented herself in court.

Her petition said that since she and Ann Kandu were legally married but the union was not recognized under DOMA, the law was unconstitutional. The brief argued that the definition of marriage/spouse in federal law should not be construed to apply to the word spouse in the Bankruptcy Code, and that to apply it that way would violate the 10th Amendment's reservation of unenumerated powers to the states.

The petition also contended that DOMA violates the Constitution's guarantees of due process and equal protection and that there is no rational justification for DOMA. Her arguments relied on the Massachusetts high court decision on same-sex marriage.

The Justice Department opposed the joint filing. Lawyers for the department argued that the federal government was justified in outlawing recognition of same-sex relationships because it had a legitimate interest in encouraging the development of relationships optimal for procreating and childrearing.

In his ruling Judge Paul B. Snyder of Federal Bankruptcy Court said there was no fundamental constitutional right to gay marriage and that DOMA did not violate the equal-protection clause of the Constitution.

The Federal Defense of Marriage Act was passed in 1996 and signed into law by President Clinton.

Although the decision is not binding on other courts gay rights advocates have been closely watching the case. In Florida, two suits are challenging the federal law. Both cases name Attorney General John Ashcroft as a defendant.