City of Providence Files Amicus Brief Urging U.S. Supreme Court to Strike Down Defense of Marriage Act

Brief filed with 277 other cities and businesses advises Supreme Court of impact on employers.

This morning, Mayor Angel Taveras announced that the City of Providence filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Supreme Court urging the Court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as unconstitutional.

"The City joined this brief on behalf of all those in Providence who believe in fundamental fairness and equality under the law," said Mayor Angel Taveras. "The Constitution should not allow discrimination and I hope the Court agrees and strikes down DOMA."

The City of Providence filed the legal brief with a broad and diverse group of 277 other commercial and municipal parties. Businesses including CBS, Cisco Systems, Apple, Google, and Jet Blue, along with other cities, including Boston, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Seattle, join with Providence to advise the Supreme Court of the adverse impact of DOMA on employers.

Mayor Taveras has been a supporter of marriage equality since his 2000 run for Congress and is a member of Mayors for Equality, an ad hoc group of mayors around the country who support same sex marriage.

Background on the Defense of Marriage Act

Judges in the First and Second Circuit Courts of Appeals and the Districts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Northern District of California, and Southern District of New York have found DOMA unconstitutional under the Equal Protection guarantee of the United States Constitution.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from the Second Circuit in Windsor v. United States of America. The Court will consider "whether Section 3 of DOMA violates the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of the laws as applied to persons of the same sex who are legally married under the laws of their State."

The Supreme Court is slated to hear oral arguments in the case on March 27, 2013.