In 2010, an appeals court declared Prop 8 unconstitutional, and its supporters decided last July to take the case to the Supreme Court. EFE/File
Washington, Feb 28 (EFE).- President Barack Obama's administration will urge the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn California's Proposition 8, which barred new same-sex unions in the Golden State, NBC and CNN said Thursday.
The Justice Department is planning to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the case late on Thursday, the networks said.
Last Friday, Justice delivered to the Supreme Court a legal opinion in which it deemed unconstitutional the federal 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
The DOMA is the focus of one of the two cases that the high court will begin reviewing in March, while the other is related to Prop 8, an amendment to the state constitution that was approved in a referendum in 2008, shortly after the state legalized homosexual unions.
In 2010, a federal appeals court declared the amendment unconstitutional, and subsequently Prop 8 supporters decided to take the case to the Supreme Court.
If the Supremes uphold the appellate ruling, gay marriage will once again be legal in California.
On Wednesday, about 200 companies, among them Microsoft, Google and Citigroup, urged the Supreme Court to abolish both the DOMA and Prop 8.
In addition, more than 80 prominent Republicans have expressed their support for same-sex marriage.
Same-sex marriage is legal in nine states - Maryland, Washington, Maine, New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as in the District of Columbia.
Civil unions are permitted in five other states.
Last May, Obama became the first U.S. president to publicly support gay marriage.
Civil Rights
Obama is the first President brave enough to support the GLBT community’s access to basic civil rights. The church and conservative hands paint a Blackface on him for defending this human-rights issue. Religious doctrine and the bigotry which goes along with it have NO place in politics. Read about how Obama and simple logic are being bamboozled at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2012/10/bamboozling-obama.htmlwww.laprensasa.com no se hace responsable de las ideas expresadas por los autores de los comentarios y se reserva el derecho a eliminar aquellos contenidos que: