1010条/页，1页
1楼主 200306262013/6/27 5:37:00
アメリカ連邦最高裁は、同性婚のカップルが男女間の結婚と同等の権利が得られないのは違憲だという判断を示しました。
アメリカでは、１２の州と首都ワシントンで同姓の結婚が認められていますが、連邦法の「結婚保護法」では「婚姻は男女間のもののみ」と規定されており、同性婚カップルは、これまで男女間の夫婦と同等の社会保障などを受けられませんでした。
連邦最高裁は２６日、ニューヨーク州在住の女性が、女性パートナーの遺産を相続する際、男女間の夫婦には課されない相続関連税を払わねばならなかったのは不当だとした訴えを審理。その結果、結婚保護法が、自由財産を保証した憲法修正５条に違反するとの判断を下しました。
最高裁による同性婚に関する司法判断は、これが初めてです。
判決を受けて、同性婚の支持を明らかにしているオバマ大統領は関係者に祝福の電話をし、また「判決を賞賛する」との声明を発表しました。（27日05:28）
2 = =2013/6/27 5:48:00
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a landmark victory for gay rights on Wednesday by forcing the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in states where it is legal and paving the way for it in California, the most populous state.
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a landmark victory for gay rights on Wednesday by forcing the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in states where it is legal and paving the way for it in California, the most populous state.
4 = =2013/6/27 5:49:00
As expected, however, the court fell short of a broader ruling endorsing a fundamental right for gay people to marry, meaning that there will be no impact in the more than 30 states that do not recognize gay marriage.
The two cases, both decided on 5-4 votes, concerned the constitutionality of a key part of a federal law, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), that denied benefits to same-sex married couples, and a voter-approved California state law enacted in 2008, called Proposition 8, that banned gay marriage.
The court struck down Section 3 of DOMA, which limited the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman for the purposes of federal benefits, as a violation of the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law.
The ruling was a victory for President Barack Obama's administration, which had decided two years ago it would no longer defend the law in court. Obama applauded the DOMA ruling and directed U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to review all relevant federal laws to ensure that it is implemented.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, 76, appointed to the court by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1988, was the key vote and wrote the DOMA opinion, the third major gay rights ruling he has authored since 1996.
In a separate opinion, the court ducked a decision on Proposition 8 by finding that supporters of the California law did not have standing to appeal a federal district court ruling that struck it down. By doing so, the justices let stand the lower-court ruling that had found the ban unconstitutional.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the Proposition 8 opinion, ruling along procedural lines in a way that said nothing about how the court would rule on the merits. The court was unusually split, with liberals and conservatives in both the majority and the dissent.
By ruling this way on Proposition 8, the court effectively let states set their own policy on gay marriage. This means a debate is set to continue in various states via ballot initiatives, legislative action and litigation potentially costing millions of dollars on both sides of an issue that stirs cultural, religious and political passions in the United States as elsewhere.
The rulings come amid rapid progress for advocates of gay marriage in recent months and years. Opinion polls show a steady increase in U.S. public support for gay marriage.
'SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS'
Gay marriage advocates celebrated outside the courthouse. A big cheer went up as word arrived DOMA had been struck down. "DOMA is dead!" the crowd chanted, as couples hugged and cried.
Paul Katami and Jeffrey Zarrillo, a gay couple from Burbank, California, who were two of the four plaintiffs in the Proposition 8 case, were both outside the courthouse.
"We are gay. We are American. And we will not be treated like second-class citizens," Katami said.
He turned to Zarrillo, voice cracking and said: "I finally get to look at the man I love and say, 'Will you marry me?'"
Before Wednesday, 12 of the 50 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia recognized gay marriage. Three of those dozen - Delaware, Minnesota and Rhode Island - legalized gay marriage this year. California would become the 13th state to allow it.
About a third of the U.S. population now lives in areas where gay marriage is legal, if California is included.
"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," Obama, the first sitting president to endorse gay marriage, said in a written statement.
While the ruling on DOMA was clearcut, questions remained about the meaning of the Proposition 8 ruling for California. Proposition 8 supporters vowed to seek continued enforcement of the ban until litigation is resolved. But California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, said the justices' ruling "applies statewide" and all county officials must comply with it.
"We are now faced with this unusual situation where we have some uncertainty," said Andrew Pugno, one of the Proposition 8 proponents' lawyers. He expressed satisfaction that the Supreme Court had "nullified" a San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that, if left intact, could have had set a precedent for other Western states in its jurisdiction.
5 = =2013/6/27 5:50:00
FEDERAL BENEFITS
By striking down Section 3 of DOMA, the court cleared the way for legally married couples to claim more than 1,100 federal benefits, rights and burdens linked to marriage status.
Kennedy wrote for the majority that the federal law, as passed by Congress, violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. "The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the state, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity," Kennedy wrote.
The law imposed "a stigma upon all who enter into same-sex marriages made lawful by the unquestioned authority of the states," he said.
Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia both wrote dissenting opinions in the DOMA case.
Roberts went out of his way to state that the court was not making any big pronouncements about gay marriage. The court, he said, did not have before it the question of whether states "may continue to utilize the traditional definition of marriage."
Scalia accused the majority of ignoring procedural obstacles about whether the court should have heard the case in order to reach its desired result.
"This is jaw-dropping," he said of Kennedy's analysis.
As a result of the DOMA ruling, Edith Windsor of New York, who was married to a woman and sued the government to get the federal estate tax deduction available to heterosexuals when their spouses die, will be able to claim a $363,000 tax refund.
The ruling was a win also for more than 200 businesses, including Goldman Sachs Group, Microsoft Corp and Google Inc, that signed on to a brief urging the court to strike down DOMA. Thomson Reuters Corp, owner of the Reuters news agency, was another signatory.
"Today's decisions help define who we are as a people, whether or not we are part of the group directly affected," said Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman's chief executive.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE
Numerous public figures including former President Bill Clinton, who in 1996 signed the DOMA law, and prominent groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics have come out this year in support of same-sex marriage and gay civil rights.
Individual members of Congress - Democrats and Republicans - also voiced new support for gay marriage this year.
Even with recent developments, there is still significant opposition among Republicans, including House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, who had ordered the House to intervene in the DOMA case in defense of the law. Boehner said in a statement he was "obviously disappointed in the ruling" and predicted that a "robust national debate over marriage" would continue.
While more developments lie ahead, the legal fight over gay marriage already constitutes one of the most concentrated civil rights sagas in U.S. history.
Just 20 years ago, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that its state constitution could allow gay marriage, prompting a nationwide backlash and spurring Congress and a majority of states, including Hawaii, to pass laws defining marriage as between only a man and woman.
In 2003, when the top court of Massachusetts established a right to same-sex marriage under its constitution, the action triggered another backlash as states then adopted constitutional amendments against such unions. Five years later, the tide began to reverse, and states slowly began joining Massachusetts in permitting gays to marry.
The cases are United States v. Windsor, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-307 and Hollingsworth v. Perry, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-144.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Ax, Steve Holland and Roberta Rampton in Washington, Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York and Daniel Levine in San Francisco; Editing by Howard Goller and Will Dunham)
6 = =2013/6/27 6:00:00
美国最高法院裁定同性婚姻伴侣享有异性夫妻同等福利
美国最高法院26号以5票赞成、4票反对，裁定同性婚姻伴侣享有异性婚姻夫妻同等的联邦福利。本次历史性裁决被视为为加州恢复同性婚姻铺平道路。美国总统奥巴马随即发表声明，赞扬这次判决，并指示司法部长检讨所有相关联邦法例，确保判决得到妥善执行。
提出司法挑战的同性恋维权人士和他们的律师步出法院，受到支持者欢呼喝采。最高法院当天裁决的两起案件中，裁定美国联邦法例中的婚姻保护法案禁止同性婚姻伴侣享有异性婚姻夫妻的税务、医疗和退休福利违反宪法。虽然最高法院未有裁定加州2008年实施的同性婚姻禁令违宪，但同性恋维权人士认为，裁决已为加州的同性恋婚姻铺平道路，加州州Zheng__Fu将要决定是否恢复同性婚姻合法化。提出诉讼的同性恋伴侣表示，将会重返加州结婚，并认为裁决可以向下一代宣示，同性恋者和其他人一样生而平等，并扬言要把同性婚姻合法化推展至全美国。
美最高法院认可同性婚姻 加州伴侣最快25天后可结婚
中新社旧金山6月26日电(记者刘丹)26日上午，美国最高法院以5票对4票驳回加州8号提案支持者的上诉，此裁定意味着为加州同性婚姻合法化开了绿灯，加州同性伴侣最快可在25天后结婚。
与此同时，最高法院还做出了另一个裁定，1996年实行的联邦《婚姻保护法》违宪，这意味着美国12个州和华盛顿特区的同性婚姻伴侣在全国范围内享有与异性婚姻伴侣同等的联邦福利和权利。
加州选民2008年11月以52%支持率通过了8号提案，该提案界定婚姻是一男一女的结合，禁止同性伴侣结婚。
此后，同性伴侣和8号提案支持者的官司从旧金山的联邦地方法院一直打到华盛顿的最高法院。
在美国第一个为同性伴侣颁发结婚证书的旧金山市，数百人当日清晨7时就聚集在具有历史意义的市Zheng__Fu大厅内等候最高法院的裁定。
2004年2月14日上午，时任旧金山市长纽森就在此地宣布为同性伴侣颁发结婚证书。第一对领取结婚证书的是年逾80的民权及女权运动推动者，菲莉斯莱恩和德尔马丁，她们相爱了52年。
如今马丁已去世，89岁的莱恩和现任加州副州长的纽森、旧金山市长李孟贤、市府律师丹尼斯赫雷拉等市府官员出现在当天的聚会上。
纽森和李孟贤均感叹“这是美国人民历史性的一天”。
纽森称，像菲利斯莱恩和德尔马丁这样相爱了一辈子的同性伴侣，不应该等着别人来告诉她们是否可以结婚。
加州同性伴侣需等候25日才能领取结婚证书。期间，8号提案支持者可以要求法院复审，法院需要数个工作日处理。
目前美国有12个州和华盛顿特区的同性伴侣可登记婚姻。
适逢本周末是旧金山一年一度的同性恋骄傲大游行，今晚旧金山、圣荷西等多个城市将从傍晚起将举行各种庆祝活动。
1010条/页，1页
1