Just days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned key portions of the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal judge has blocked Michigan's ban on domestic partner benefits for employees who work for public schools or local governments.
Some in the legal community said the ruling could be viewed as a way for gay employees of public school or local governments in other states that do not support gay marriage to push for benefits. When some states outlawed gay marriages, they also prohibited same-sex partner benefits.
U.S. District Judge David Lawson said plaintiffs who were denied benefits or were forced to buy expensive private health insurance have made a "plausible claim" that the Michigan law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling is only an injunction, not a final decision, but Lawson's strong language implies the law soon might be overturned for good.
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"It is hard to argue with a straight face that the primary purpose — indeed, perhaps the sole purpose — of the statute is other than to deny health benefits to the same-sex partners of public employees. But that can never be a legitimate governmental purpose," Lawson wrote in part of the 51-page opinion.
The Michigan law, passed in 2011, ended insurance for people whose domestic partners work for certain public employers.
Those who backed the legislation said it saved taxpayer money and dovetailed with a 2004 constitutional amendment, approved by 58 percent of voters, that defines marriage only as a union between a man and a woman.
Lawson described that claim as one that comes close to "striking the court with the force of a 5-week-old, unrefrigerated dead fish."
Stephen Sanders, an associate professor of law at Indiana University at Bloomington and an expert on the legal rights of gay people told Inside Higher Ed that the Michigan ruling is potentially significant for same-sex employees working in states that do not support gay marriage. Currently, just 12 states support same-sex marriages.
Sanders said states that adopted laws denying benefits to same-sex couples are going to be vulnerable after last week's DOMA decision.
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