Massachusetts Mounts 10th Amendment Case Against DOMA

In a move sure to bring limited-government federalists everywhere into gleeful concert with The Gay, Massachusetts is suing the federal government, alleging that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the commonwealth's 10th Amendment prerogative to regulate marriage. The Boston Globe reports:

The lawsuit … asserts that DOMA is unconstitutional because it interferes with the commonwealth's "sovereign authority to define and regulate the marital status of its residents" and also alleges that DOMA exceeds Congress's authority because Congress does not have a valid reason for requiring Massachusetts to treat married same-sex couples differently from all other married couples.

The Associated Press mentions that, back in March, a gay-rights advocacy group based in Boston also filed a lawsuit against DOMA, claiming that it discriminated against gays by denying them federal benefits available to heterosexual couples.

Thus Western Civilization's long, slow death-struggle continues apace.

Read Massachusetts' entire complaint here. 

Reason has been all over this whole "gay marriage" thing for some time. Steve Chapman defended the federalist case for gay marriage, Cathy Young filed a dispatch from the gay-marriage culture war, and Jacob Sullum pointed out the pitfalls of fighting for gay marriage through the courts.