In a March 7 Washington Post oped, former President Bill Clinton called on the US Supreme Court to declare the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which bars same sex spouses from receiving federal benefits (including green cards) available to spouses in opposite sex marriages, unconstitutional. Clinton said that 1996, when he signed DOMA, "was a very different time". He also stated:
"On March 27, DOMA will come before the Supreme Court, and the justices must decide whether it is consistent with the principles of a nation that honors freedom, equality and justice above all, and is therefore constitutional. As the president who signed the act into law, I have come to believe that DOMA is contrary to those principles and, in fact, incompatible with our Constitution."
DOMA is not ...