Kaine, senators urge DOMA decision

A group of U.S. senators urged the president Thursday to implement the Supreme Court's DOMA decision.

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine joined 38 other senators from across the country in sending a letter to President Obama about the recent Defense of Marriage Act decision made by the Supreme Court.

In the letter, the senators urged the president and his administration to quickly and thoroughly implement the decision to overturn the act restricting same-sex couples from a number of federal benefits. Part of the letter reads as follows:

"We understand that your Administration is evaluating the vast number of statutes and regulations impacted, and that many laws provide Federal agencies with great discretion to provide relief to legally-married, same-sex couples. We urge you to ensure that legally-married, same-sex couples are treated equally under Federal law regardless of where they live, to the greatest extent possible. Only by doing this can we truly provide equal protection to the married couples that have long borne the brunt of DOMA’s unconstitutional discrimination.”

The letter also spoke of the senators' desire to pass the Respect for Marriage Act to replace DOMA:

“Some statutes, including the Social Security Act and Veterans Code, may limit the degree to which equal treatment under the law can be fully realized. Passing this legislation will fix that, by making sure that couples that have entered into the lifelong commitment of lawful marriage are treated equally under Federal law regardless of where they live. We also believe that DOMA should be stricken from the books – period. It should not be subject to a potentially shifting Supreme Court majority. Nor should a couple’s legally recognized marriage be vulnerable to changing Administrations.

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