Hemera/Thinkstock(SAN FRANCISCO) -- A federal judge in California Wednesday night struck down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as applied to a federal employee who sought benefits for her same-sex spouse.
While this is not the first time a federal court has struck down a provision of DOMA, it is the first ruling to come since the Obama administration determined it would no longer defend the federal law that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. Lawyers hired by the Republican leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives are now defending the law in court.
Karen Golinski, a lesbian woman married to her spouse under California law, brought the suit after she was unable to secure federal health benefits for her same-sex spouse.
U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey S. White said, “In this matter, the court finds that DOMA, as applied to Ms. Golinski, violates her right to equal protection of the law under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution by, without substantial justification or rational basis, refusing to recognize her lawful marriage to prevent provision of health insurance coverage to her spouse.”
Lambda Legal Defense Fund, which represented Golinski, praised the ruling.
“We are thrilled,” said John Davidson, legal director at Lambda Legal. “This is a grand slam for us. Judge White agreed that sexual orientation discrimination should be given heightened judicial scrutiny and there is not even a rational justification for DOMA’s discrimination. Courts should regard with suspicion government discrimination based on sexual orientation.”
Comstock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Maj. David McCombs, a U.S. Marine who has served four tours overseas, stood out in the cold early Wednesday morning waiting for one of the few public seats in the Supreme Court hearing room.
McCombs came to the court to hear a case challenging the Stolen Valor Act, a law that makes it a crime to lie about receiving military awards.
"The medal of honor is the highest medal that can be awarded," said McCombs. "I believe the medal itself represents the highest sacrifice someone can pay. To lie about such an honor is a disgrace."
But some high court justices struggled with what Justice Anthony Kennedy called the "slippery slope problem."
Kennedy asked, for instance, about a lie concerning a college degree. Elena Kagan wondered about a law that could be passed to ban lies about extramarital affairs.
Chief Justice John Roberts asked Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., "Where do you stop? I mean, there are many things that people know about themselves that are objectively verifiable where Congress would have an interest in protecting."
The law is being challenged in court by Xavier Alvarez, who, while serving as a public official in California, introduced himself to an audience by saying, "I'm a retired Marine for 25 years. I was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor."
Alvarez had never even served in the military.
As one of the first people prosecuted under the law, he was sentenced to three years' probation, a $5,000 fine and community service.
Inside court, Alvarez's federal public defender, Jonathan D. Libby, acknowledged to the justices that his client is a liar. But he said the Stolen Valor Act goes too far and violates the First Amendment.
"The Stolen Valor Act criminalizes pure speech in the form of bare falsity, a mere telling of a lie," Libby said. "It doesn't matter whether the lie was told in a public meeting or in a private conversation with a friend or family member."
The government argued that the law fits into a narrow category of speech that is unprotected by the First Amendment.
Verrilli said the law "regulates a carefully limited and narrowly drawn category of calculated factual falsehoods. It advances a legitimate, substantial, indeed compelling governmental interest, and it chills no speech."
Justice Sonia Sotomayor focused on the harm that a lie about military awards might cause.
"You can't really believe that a war veteran thinks less of the medal that he or she receives because someone's claiming fraudulently that they got one," she told Verrilli. "I'm not minimizing it. I, too, take offense when people make these kinds of claims, but I take offense when someone I'm dating makes a claim that's not true."
Verrilli said the statute is as "narrow as you can get" and stressed the importance of protecting the honor system.
"What I think with respect to the government's interest here, and why there is a harm to that interest, is that the point of these medals is that it's a big deal," he said.
"The honor system is about identifying the attributes, the essence, of what we want in our servicemen and women -- courage, sacrifice, love of country, willingness to put your life on the line for your comrades."
Justice Antonin Scalia expressed support for the law.
"When Congress passed this legislation, I assume it did so because it thought that the value of the awards that these courageous members of the armed forces were receiving was being demeaned and diminished."
Justice Samuel Alito asked why a lie should receive First Amendment protection.
"Do you really think that there is First Amendment value in a bald-faced lie about a purely factual statement that a person makes about himself because that person would like to create a particular persona?" he asked.
"Yes, your honor," Libby said, "so long as it doesn't cause imminent harm to another person or imminent harm to a government function."
A lower court ruled in favor of Alvarez, saying that while society would be "better off if Alvarez would stop spreading worthless, ridiculous and offensive untruths," the law was "unconstitutionally applied to make a criminal out of a man who was proven to be nothing more than a liar."
Comstock/Thinkstock(CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.) -- A jury found George Huguely V guilty Wednesday of second-degree murder and grand larceny in the beating death of his ex-girlfriend Yeardley Love.
The Charlottesville, Va., jury of five women and seven men reached their verdict after nine hours behind closed doors.
As the sentence was announced Huguely barely reacted, putting his hands to his face a few times near his chin. He looked over briefly at his family and friends in the front three rows of the courtroom.
Huguely, 24, was charged with killing Love in a drunken rage in 2010 just weeks before she was to graduate from the University of Virginia.
The murder charge carries a possible prison sentence of five to 40 years. The grand larceny conviction carries a possible sentence of up to 20 years.
The jury could begin hearing testimony immediately that would affect their deliberations on a sentence for Huguely.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Amine El Khalifi, the 29-year-old Moroccan man charged last Friday in an FBI sting in a plot to bomb the Capitol made a brief court appearance Wednesday afternoon and waived his right to a detention hearing.
The court appearance lasted only a few minutes with Khalifi not seeking bond for his release while the case proceeds.
Khalifi appeared before a federal magistrate wearing a green jumpsuit with "PRISONER" labeled on the back, as he was flanked by his defense lawyers from the Federal Defenders office.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Virginia is expected to indict Khalifi in the next 30 days after presenting the case to a federal grand jury.
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Breaking ground on the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, President Obama said Wednesday he hopes the museum will remind future generations of the, “sometimes difficult, often inspirational, but always central role that African-Americans have played in the life of our country.”
The president spoke of what he would like his own two daughters to take away from the long-sought-after museum, which will be the only national museum devoted exclusively to African American life, art and history.
“I want my daughters to see the shackles that bound slaves on their voyage across the ocean and the shards the glass that flew from the 16th Street Baptist Church and understand that injustice and evil exist in the world, but I also want them to hear Louie Armstrong's horn and learn about the Negro League and read the poems of Phillis Wheatley,” he said. “I want them to appreciate this museum not just as a record of tragedy but as a celebration of life.”
The president was joined by his wife Michelle Obama and former First lady Laura Bush at Wednesday’s ceremony. The museum, which is set to open in 2015, will be built between the Washington Monument and the National Museum of American History.
Scott Olson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- When Congressman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., noticed someone left behind change at an airport security checkpoint, he started wondering about all those forgotten pennies. Turns out all that change really adds up: the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reports that about $409,000 was left behind in the year 2010, the most recent year documented.
Miller would like to see that money benefit the United Service Organizations (USO) and has introduced a bill that would do just that.
The USO is a private, non-profit organization supporting the military that, in part, operates welcome centers for returning service men and women at airports around the country. In 2005, Congress gave TSA the authority to use the money on security operations, which it does.
“Travelers’ lost change should be put to good use, and there is no better organization to use this money wisely than the United Service Organizations. Each airport center provides a place for service men and women to enjoy a welcoming atmosphere, connect with family, and utilize the services provided by the USO,” Miller said in an email to ABC News.
TSA does not comment on pending legislation, but a spokesperson did tell ABC News it makes every effort to reunite passengers with items left behind at checkpoints.
“TSA keeps travelers’ change accidentally left at checkpoints as an appropriations backfill for agency activities. There is no incentive for TSA to try to return the forgotten change to its rightful owner,” Miller said. Miller is the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
The USO says that while it did not initiate the idea to have the money left behind earmarked for its use, the money would “absolutely” make a difference.
ABC News(LOS ANGELES) – A photograph of the California Fish and Wildlife Commission president smiling and holding up a dead mountain lion that he shot has ignited controversy in the state, where hunting the creatures has been illegal since 1990.
Dan Richards, however, shot the animal in Idaho, where hunting the cats is legal.
Richards isn’t supposed to bring it back to California, though, and it was unclear if he had.
California’s Prop. 117, which banned the hunting of mountain lions, also made it illegal for residents to bring dead mountain lions into the state.
“Californians sort of trust the Fish and Game Department and their commission to be the protectors of our wildlife resources, and this person is showing that he really doesn’t care,” Tim Dunbar, executive of the Mountain Lion Foundation, told ABC News affiliate KABC.
One state legislator is even calling for Richards to be ousted.
“He’s thumbing his nose at California law,” Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, told the San Jose Mercury News. “He’s mocking it. Frankly, I think he should face the music and step down. He’s done something that’s a disgrace to his position and to responsible hunters in California.”
Richards did not respond to ABC News’ request for an interview.
Comstock/Thinkstock(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) -- The judge presiding over the murder trial of accused "Honeymoon Killer" Gabe Watson has openly scoffed at the prosecution's claims and angrily asked the prosecutor if he needs lessons on the rules of court.
The actions by Judge Tommy Nail raise questions about the prosecution's case.
Watson is accused of killing Tina Watson, his bride of 11 days, during their honeymoon in Australia by drowning her while scuba diving off the Great Barrier Reef. The motive for the alleged crime was Watson's intention to collect on a $130,000 insurance policy and to sell her possessions, the prosecution argued in its opening statement.
The judge's anger boiled over Tuesday after prosecutor Don Valeska questioned funeral home director Sam Shelton about Watson retrieving his wife's engagement ring from the casket, but asking that her wedding ring remain on her hand.
The judge interrupted the testimony to say, "I took my grandmother's engagement ring when she was buried. I think it's quite common." Nail asked Shelton if most of his customers took their loved one's rings and Shelton responded, "It's quite common."
The sparring between the judge and the prosecutor continued until Nail sent the jury out of the courtroom and posed a sharp question to Valeska.
"You mean to tell me that [Gabe Watson] bought the engagement ring, married her, he and his family paid for a wedding, he planned and paid for a honeymoon halfway around the world, all so he could kill her to get an engagement ring he bought in the first place?" the judge asked.
The courtroom fell silent.
During the prosecution's questioning of Tina Watson's sister, Alanda Thomas, on Tuesday the defense repeatedly objected to Valeska's questions and Nail sustained nearly every defense objection.
When Valeska became visibly frustrated, the judge pounded his desk and pointed at Valeska, saying loudly, "Do you need the definition of hearsay? If y'all can't accept my ruling you know where Montgomery is; take off." Montgomery is the neighboring county from Jefferson County where the murder trial is taking place.
The heated discussions began after prosecutors pressed their witnesses on questions about Watson's character. Throughout the trial, prosecutors have tried to paint Watson as an unemotional, calculating killer.
Valeska later said to ABC News, "I wish we had gotten in the stuff that he ruled out, but I can't do anything but move on."
Watson never received any money from his wife's insurance policy since her father was listed as the beneficiary. Watson had filed a claim for $10,000 in travel insurance to cover what he says would was the total cost incurred as a result of his wife's death in Australia.
U.S. Department of Justice(CLEVELAND) -- An animal activist planned to pay a hitman $730 to gun down a random person wearing fur outside of a Cleveland library. A criteria for any gunmen considering the offer was that they do not wear, "anything that looks remotely like fur," according to a police affidavit.
"I would like to create an online community on Facebook which would allow me to find someone who is willing to kill someone who is wearing fur toward the end of October 2011 or early November 2011 or possibly in January 2012 or February 2012 at the latest," Meredith Lowell allegedly wrote on a Facebook page she had established under the alias Anne Lowery.
Lowell, 27, was arrested Tuesday on one charge of conspiracy to commit murder. According to an affidavit filed by federal authorities, Lowell solicited a hitman to kill the first person he saw outside of a Cleveland Heights library who was wearing fur and, "preferably 14 years old or older but should be at least 12 years old."
The FBI took notice of the posting last November and assigned an undercover employee to correspond with Lowell, pretending to agree to get the job done.
A 14-page affidavit that detailed Lowell's alleged correspondence with her "hitman," which took place over the course of several months, was filed in U.S. District Court.
After exchanging messages on Facebook, Lowell began to open up to the FBI operative and revealed that Anne Lowery was a pseudonym. The two moved their correspondence to email since "it is easier for us to communicate," Lowell wrote.
Lowell sent many of the emails from the Coventry Branch of Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library, where authorities claim she planned to have the murder take place. In those emails, she wrote of her desire to escape a home where her family ate meat, wore wool, and used animal products, the affidavit states.
Jennifer Kaden, co-founder of the Cleveland Animal Rights Alliance, said she checked her membership records and found that no one in her organization had ever dealt with Lowell, who she called "misguided" and "dangerous."
Lowell remains in federal custody and faces a detention hearing next Tuesday to determine whether she will be offered bail.
Giuliana Nakashima/The Washington Post/Getty Images(INDIANAPOLIS) -- When most people think of the Girl Scouts -- especially at this time of the year -- they think of Thin Mints and Samoas, of campfires and green uniforms, but one Indiana Republican sees something vastly different: a “radicalized” group that backs abortion rights and in doing so is destroying U.S. families.
That is why Indiana state Rep. Bob Morris -- who represents Allen County, which includes the city of Fort Wayne -- is not only refusing to sign a resolution to honor the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America but actively trying to get his fellow lawmakers to oppose the measure, too.
In a letter to his Republican colleagues at the Indiana statehouse, first obtained by the Journal-Gazette of Fort Wayne, Morris called the group a “radicalized organization” that backs abortion and promotes the “homosexual lifestyle.” Of the 50 role models that Girl Scouts study, Morris argued that, “only three have a briefly mentioned religious background; all the rest are feminists, lesbians or communists.”
Even the White House wasn’t immune from Morris’ criticism. Morris wrote that First lady Michelle Obama’s role as an honorary president of the New York City-based group, “should give each of us reason to pause before our individual and collective endorsement of the organization.”
Morris, who said he had done, “a small amount of Web-based research” on the matter, claimed that, “the agenda of Planned Parenthood includes sexualizing young girls through the Girl Scouts, which is quickly becoming a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood.”
Morris has two daughters who are part of the group but, he said, he sought out a specific troop for them that is anti-abortion. The organization overall, he wrote in his letter, “has been subverted in the name of liberal progressive politics and the destruction of traditional American family values.”
The married father of six and Indiana University graduate is the owner and founder of a chain of retail stores called Healthkick Nutrition Centers.
The backlash from the organization has been swift. Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michigan posted a statement on its website titled “What We Stand For.” “No funds are allocated from either [Girl Scouts of Northern-Indiana Michigan or Girl Scouts USA] to Planned Parenthood,” the group said in its statement, adding that, “issues related to human sexuality and reproductive health are best left to parents or guardians to discuss with their daughters.”
Planned Parenthood of Indiana also released a statement, with president and CEO Betty Cockrum saying, “It was disappointing to read Rep. Morris’ inflammatory, misleading, woefully inaccurate and harmful words about Planned Parenthood, the Girl Scouts of America and the president and first lady.”
“On the national level, inflammatory and generally inaccurate claims about a partnership between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood have been promoted primarily by anti-choice lawmakers seeking to place pressure on organizations to disassociate or distance themselves from Planned Parenthood,” Cockrum said.
Even Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma ridiculed Morris’ stance, spending Tuesday dishing out Thin Mints to other lawmakers and joking that the letter made him buy 278 cases of cookies.
Morris said Tuesday that he is standing by his opposition and his daughters are now joining an alternative group run by conservative Christians.
