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THURSDAY, JUNE 27 , 2013

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Victories for gay marriage

COURT CLEARS WAY FOR FEDERAL BENEFITS, RESUMPTION OF SAME-SEX UNIONS IN CALIF.
THE TAKE DAN BALZ
BY

R OBERT B ARNES

Decisions mark a political sea change

The Supreme Court met the moment Wednesday. With public attitudes shifting dramatically in favor of same-sex marriage, the justices used a pair of rulings to give additional momentum to one of the most rapid changes in social policy in the nations history. Sometimes the court makes history outright, as it did when it outlawed segregated schools in 1954 or legalized abortion in 1973. Other times, it moves more deliberately, facilitating changes already underway. That was the case on Wednesday. The justices carefully provided a historic push to the same-sex-marriage movement, even as they decided to leave the political wrangling over the issue to the states and politicians. Everything about the decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Californias Proposition 8 the take continued on A8

MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST

Celebrating on the steps of the Supreme Court, from left, Adam Umhoefer of the American Foundation for Equal Rights; partners Jeff Zarrillo and Paul Katami and their attorney David Boies; partners Sandy Stier and Kris Perry; and Chad Griffin of the Human Rights Campaign. Zarrillo, Katami, Stier and Perry were plaintiffs in the Proposition 8 case. Below, gay-marriage backers in front of the court.

REACTION

What the rulings mean

DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT
What is it? DOMA is a law adopted by Congress in 1996 that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman for the purposes of receiving federal benefits. What did the court do? The justices struck down a crucial part of the law, making it possible for same-sex couples who are legally married under state law to receive federal benefits. Thirteen states and the District have legalized gay marriage.
BONNIE JO MOUNT/THE WASHINGTON POST

From coast to coast, a day of tears, joy and disappointment

BY

PROPOSITION 8
What is it? Prop. 8 was a California ballot initiative, approved by voters in 2008, that amended the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. What did the court do? The justices declined to rule on Prop. 8, saying the people who appealed a lower-court decision throwing out the amendment did not have legal standing. As a result, the court cleared the way for samesex marriages in California to proceed.

G REGORY T HOMAS, M EERI K IM AND L ENNY B ERNSTEIN

san francisco Estranged

from his family because he is gay, 27-year-old Eric Hoffman stood outside City Hall here and found hope for rapprochement in the most unlikely of places: the Supreme Court of the United States, a continent away. When I was at home in Dos Palos, he said of the tiny central California town where he grew up, I feared for my life every day. I came out because I was being blackmailed. Now I can go back proud of who I am. I think now my family can love me even more. With the release of two decisions that legitimized gay marriage, the court set off a day of powerful personal emotions. Opponents of gay marriage exreaction continued on A7

The Supreme Courts first rulings on same-sex marriage produced historic gains for gay rights Wednesday: full federal recognition of legally married gay couples and an opening for such unions to resume in the nations largest state. The divided court stopped short of a more sweeping ruling that the fundamental right to marry must be extended to gay couples no matter where they live. But in striking down a key part of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the court declared that gay couples married in states where it is legal must receive the same federal health, tax, Social Security and other benefits that heterosexual couples receive. In turning away a case involving Californias prohibition of same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8, the justices left in place a lower courts decision that the ban is unconstitutional. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) said he would order same-sex marriages to resume as quickly as possible. With the addition of California, more than a third of Americans will live in a jurisdiction 13 states and District of Columbia where same-sex marriage is sanctioned. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joined the courts four liberals in declaring unconstitutional DOMAs prohibition on federal recognition of legally married couples enacted when such unions were only theoretical. DOMA writes inequality into the entire United States Code, wrote Kennedy, who was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Withholding federal recognition of same-sex married couples places them in an unstable position of being in a second-tier court continued on A6

How they voted

The court issued key 5-4 decisions on DOMA and Prop. 8.

Analyzing the rulings

The Supreme Court has moved incrementally, but the decisions hold importance for the future. A6

Conservatives push back

Stephen G. Breyer
MAJORITY
MAJORITY

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

MAJORITY MAJORITY

Elena Kagan
MAJORITY MAJORITY

Sonia Sotomayor
MAJORITY DISSENTING

Anthony M. Kennedy
MAJORITY DISSENTING

John G. Roberts Jr.

DISSENTING MAJORITY

Antonin Scalia
DISSENTING MAJORITY

Samuel A. Alito Jr.

DISSENTING DISSENTING

Clarence Thomas
DISSENTING DISSENTING

DOMA
PROP. 8

A House member says hell offer a constitutional amendment to restore the federal law. A8

For some, a day to rejoice

The ruling is a major victory for gay federal workers, but there is more left to do. Federal Diary, B4

APPOINTED BY

Bill Clinton

Clinton

Barack Obama

Obama

Ronald Reagan

George W. Bush

Reagan

George W. Bush

George H.W. Bush

In 2009, Snowden denounced leakers

Such people should be shot, he says in newly disclosed chat logs
BY P ETER F INN AND J ULIE T ATE

Stand-up day makes Tex. senator a star

BY K AREN T UMULTY AND M ORGAN S MITH

When he was working in the intelligence community in 2009, Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor who passed top-secret documents to journalists, appears to have had nothing but disdain for those who leaked classified information, the newspapers that printed their revelations, and his current ally, the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, ac-

cording to newly disclosed chat logs. Snowden, who used the online handle TheTrueHOOHA, was particularly upset about a January 2009 New York Times article that reported on a covert program to subvert Irans nuclear infrastructure, according to the logs, which were published Wednesday by Ars Technica, a technology news Web site. Theyre reporting classified [expletive], Snowden wrote. You dont put that [expletive] in the NEWSPAPER. At the time of the posting, in January 2009, Snowden was 25 years old and stationed in Geneva by the CIA. Are they TRYING to start a

war? he asked of the New York Times. Jesus christ theyre like wikileaks. Snowdens libertarian and dogmatic online persona adds to the emerging portrait of a shapeshifting young man whose motivations and decision-making remain in flux. When he burst into public view in the second week of June, Snowden cast himself as a lonely crusader reconciled to capture snowden continued on A11

Entering the data debate

Twitters chief executive says the company will disclose more specifics about data requests. A11

Wendy Davis strode onto the floor of the Texas Senate chamber on Tuesday in rouge-red running shoes, and came off it early Wednesday morning as the Democratic Partys newest star. During 13 hours in between, the little-known legislator from Fort Worth delivered a filibuster that electrified social media and stopped passage of one of the nations toughest set of abortion restrictions in the waning hours of a special session. As word spread, supporters thronged the capitols entrances, lined the walkways encircling the rotunda and turned the Sen-

ERIC GAY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wendy Davis ran out the clock on an antiabortion bill Tuesday.

ate chambers gallery into a cheering section. What made the scene so riveting was the woman who was required to speak without a

break, without straying from the topic and without even leaning on her antique walnut desk. As time ran out, Republicans deemed her to have violated those rules including once for being helped with a back brace and made her give up the floor. Such was the bedlam, however, that when the 19-10 vote finally happened, it came several minutes too late for a midnight deadline. That kind of tenacity has also been the story of her life. Davis, 50, became a mother while still in her teens, lived for a time in a trailer park and graduated with honors from Harvard Law texas continued on A18

IN THE NEWS
SPORTS

against the nations obe sity problem, according to research. A17 New England Patriots tight end Aaron Her nandez was arrested and charged with mur der in the shooting death of a friend. D1 Roger Federer lost in the second round at Wimbledon. D3
SCIENCE

Meanwhile, research on early humans anatomy shows why we can throw a fastball but a chimp cant. A3
THE ECONOMY

THE NATION

MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST

Bad news: bears A young black bear was caught in the District after a long chase, the latest of several sightings in two weeks. B5

The National Institutes of Health said all but about 50 chimpan zees will be retired from research and put into animal sanctuaries.

Spiking interest rates may lead the Fed to de lay scaling back its stim ulus program. A16 IMF chief Christine Lagarde said the world can withstand the Fed eral Reserves tightening of monetary policy. A17 Taxing calories is one way to make headway

A bipartisan group of senators is trying to pre vent interest rates from doubling for certain stu dent loans, but the deadline is Monday. A4
THE REGION

stormwater control project will spur job cre ation. B1 A former D.C. boxer pleaded guilty to misus ing taxpayer money. B1
THE WORLD

INSIDE
LOCAL LIVING

Making the best of a not-so-empty nest

When your adult kids boomerang, how to manage the present and prepare them for the next move.
BUSINESS NEWS........................A16 CLASSIFIEDS...............................D9 COMICS ....................................... C6 LOTTERIES...................................B3 OBITUARIES.................................B5 OPINION PAGES.........................A20 TELEVISION ................................. C4

Commanders of Syrian rebel units said they are near defeat and need weapons soon. A14
OBITUARIES

A human rights groups report on D.C. police rape cases made faulty assumptions and used incomplete data, a review concluded. B3 Prince Georges County officials hope a

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CONTENT 2013 The Washington Post / Year 136, No. 204

Billionaire Marc Rich, 78, was wanted by the FBI for fraud and tax evasion before his controversial pardon on Bill Clintons final day in office in 2001. B6

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