DOMA is tested during appellate court arguments

Lawyers battled this week in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over whether the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act violates the U.S. Constitution. The state of Massachusetts and the legal group Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders argued that when Congress passed DOMA it acted out of impermissible animus toward gay and lesbian couples, rather than a legitimate government interest. A lawyer hired by Congress defended the law, as the Obama administration has declined to do so. A federal circuit court has ruled DOMA unconstitutional.