UPDATES & ANALYSIS

Attorney General Miller Urges U.S. Supreme Court to Strike Down Prop 8 and DOMA

by Ryan Koopmans | March 1, 2013

By Ryan Koopmans

Yesterday, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Hollingsworth v. Perry, the California “Prop 8” case about same-sex marriage.  Attorney General Miller, and the attorneys general of 12 other states and the District of Columbia, argue that California’s ban on same-sex marriage is not rationally related to any government interests and is therefore unconstitutional.

Miller is also expected to file a brief today on behalf of Iowa that urges the Supreme Court to strike down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, otherwise known as “DOMA.”  That position puts Miller at odds with Iowa’s Senior Senator, Charles Grassley, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold  DOMA.  Senator Grassley and nine of his colleagues argue that several federal interests support the statute and that defining marriage in the traditional sense does not amount to unconstitutional animus towards same-sex couples.

On March 26, the Supreme Court will hear argument in Hollingsworth v. Perry; the next day the Court will hear argument in United States v. Windsor (the DOMA case).