Kramer Levin Files Brief Urging Supreme Court to Decide Marriage Equality Cases and Halt Harm to Same-Sex Couples and Their Families

Kramer Levin has filed an amicus curiae brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review in one or more of the marriage equality cases now pending before it, affirm the freedom to marry for all couples, and end the severe harm caused by marriage discrimination to same-sex couples and their families. The brief was filed on behalf of Freedom to Marry, a national leader in the campaign to win marriage equality, and several organizations focused on advocating for and empowering same-sex individuals, couples, and their families: Family Equality Council, PFLAG, COLAGE, and Equality Federation.

The Kramer Levin brief catalogues a wide range of injuries caused by marriage discrimination, including exclusion from hundreds of important state and federal protections, benefits, and responsibilities; severe dignitary harm based on the government’s message that the relationships of same-sex couples are less worthy of respect and recognition – a particularly humiliating message to the children of such couples; and further injury caused even to legally married couples when they move or return to states that bar recognition of their marriages.

As the brief explains, “Every day that same-sex couples are denied the freedom to marry, they and their families suffer new and continuing injuries to their financial security, their access to legal protections, and their fundamental dignity.”

The brief notes that, in the year since the Supreme Court decided United States v. Windsor, which struck down the portion of the Defense of Marriage Act barring federal recognition of the legal marriages of same-sex couples, a long string of federal and state courts has held that marriage discrimination by individual states is a similarly unconstitutional denial of equal protection. In light of that emerging national consensus, the brief argues that the Court should grant one or more of the petitions seeking review of federal court decisions upholding the right to marry in Oklahoma, Utah, and Virginia, so that the question can be resolved nationwide.

“After working on marriage equality for more than a decade, we are gratified to see the growing national understanding that marriage discrimination serves no purpose that could justify the injury it inflicts,” said Kramer Levin partner Jeffrey S. Trachtman, counsel of record on the brief. “But state-by-state litigation still leaves families exposed. Only the Supreme Court can settle the question once and for all and protect children and their families from gratuitous harm.”

Kramer Levin’s clients on the brief are some of the most expert and distinguished nonprofits working for LGBT equality. Freedom to Marry, a longtime Kramer Levin pro bono client, was founded by marriage pioneer Evan Wolfson and provides leadership and coordination for the movement to win marriage nationwide. Family Equality Council brings together and advocates for LGBT families with children and through an earlier amicus brief in Windsor helped bring children’s voices before the Supreme Court. PFLAG represents parents and friends of LGBT individuals and was also Kramer Levin’s amicus client in Dale v. Boy Scouts. COLAGE advocates for and empowers the children of LGBT couples. And Equality Federation partners with state-based advocacy organizations to advance the rights of all LGBT Americans.

The Kramer Levin brief was written by partner Jeffrey S. Trachtman, associate Anna Schoenfelder and law clerk Michelle Ben-David, with assistance from partner Norman C. Simon and associates Jason M. Moff and Kurt M. Denk. Kramer Levin has a long history of involvement in pro bono LGBT rights litigation, including serving as co-counsel with Lambda Legal in Hernandez v. Robles, the case seeking equal marriage rights under the New York Constitution.