Supreme Court Asked to Rule on DOMA

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An ailing 83-year-old lesbian asked the Supreme Court on Monday to hear her legal challenge against a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and woman, attempting to place her case on a fast-track to the top court.

The suit, filed by Edith Schlain Windsor in 2010, targets the Defense of Marriage Act, a law passed by Congress in 1996 that denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples.

Windsor’s petition attempts to bypass the U.S. Court of Appeals, which is slated to hear the case in September.
With Windsor’s filing, there are three petitions pending before the Supreme Court over the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, an issue the high court could take up in oral arguments as early as next spring.
A New York district court previously ruled in Windsor’s favor.