On the last day the Supreme Court convenes before the end of their term they finally announced the rulings that gay rights advocates have been waiting outside for two weeks to hear, the court struck down the part of the Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage as between a man and a woman and they allowed a lower court's overturning of California's Prop 8 to stand, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is often thought to be the swing vote on the court, wrote the majority decision for the 5-4 ruling that struck down DOMA. Joining him in the majority were Justices Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.

"The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity," Justice Kennedy wrote. "By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment."

Justice Kennedy's written decision continued, "This requires the Court to hold, as it now does, that DOMA is unconstitutional as a deprivation of the liberty of the person protected by the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution."

The case against DOMA was brought by Edith Windsor of New York and centered on whether she should receive a federal estate tax deduction that is available for heterosexual couples when her spouse, Thea Spyer, passed away. Their marriage was recognized as legal under New York law but the federal government did not recognize it and charged her $363,000 in taxes, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Justice Antonin Scalia chose to read from his dissent when the rulings were announced, a move that is reserved for when a justice has particularly strong feelings of dissent. In his lengthy comments Justice Scalia said that the majority's ruling unfairly labeled supporters of traditional marriage as bigots, according to the Washington Post.

"In the majority's telling, this story is black and white: hate your neighbor or come along with us," Justice Scalia said. "It is hard to admit that one's political opponents are not monsters, especially in a struggle like this one, and the challenge in the end proves more than today's court can handle."

Joining Scalia in the dissent were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.


President Barack Obama issued a statement supporting the decision.

"I applaud the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act," President Obama said. "This was discrimination enshrined in law. It treated loving, committed gay and lesbian couples as a separate and lesser class of people. The Supreme Court has righted that wrong, and our country is better off for it. We are a people who declared that we are all created equal - and the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

Former Congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass., the first openly gay member of Congress, told MSNBC how he felt about the decision.

"We, as a class, are entitled to this," Frank said. "It is very, very important, both specifically for a lot of hard working people who pay their taxes to now get full benefits, and it's one more step towards doing what I think is the most important Constitutional mandate we have."

In his comments Frank explained that he felt getting rid of DOMA was an obvious decision for the court.

"This really is classic equal protection jurisprudence, so the surprise is not that five justices found for it," Frank said. "It's that four justices that still want to make those of us that are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender an exception to traditional jurisprudence."

When the ruling was announced the crowd waiting outside of the courtroom erupted as people cheered, sang, cried, and embraced each other. Two Dartmouth students who attended the announcement explained to The New York Times why they made the trip.

"It's a huge landmark case and to actually be able to see it and to see these people in line so passionate about it is really great," Karna Adam said. "It is a changing time for us and these cases are like the civil rights cases used to be for past generations."

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