Lambda Legal Calls DOMA Case Dismissal ‘Icing on the Cake’ for Ninth Circuit Attorney

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit July 23 dismissed an appeal of a district court’s ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act violated the U.S. Constitution as applied to exclude a federal employee’s same-sex spouse from her health benefits plan (Golinski v. OPM, 9th Cir., No. 12-15388).

Ninth Circuit staff attorney Karen Golinski’s request for spousal benefits for her wife was denied in 2008 based on DOMA Section 3’s exclusion of legally married same-sex spouses from federal health plan coverage. Golinski filed a complaint against the Office of Personnel Management, alleging that the refusal ...