U.S. v. WINDSOR

No. 12-307.

133 S.Ct. 2675 (2013)

186 L.Ed.2d 808

UNITED STATES, Petitioner v. Edith Schlain WINDSOR, in her capacity as executor of the Estate of Thea Clara Spyer, et al.

Supreme Court of United States.

Decided June 26, 2013.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Vicki C. Jackson , appointed by this Court, as amicus curiae, by Sri Srinivasan, for Petitioner.

Paul D. Clement , for Respondent Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the United States House of Representatives.

Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. , Solicitor General, Washington, D.C, for United States on the Jurisdictional Questions.

Roberta A. Kaplan , for Respondent Edith Schlain Windsor.

Pamela S. Karlan , Jeffrey L. Fisher , Stanford, CA, James D. Esseks , Joshua A. Block , Leslie Cooper , Steven R. Shapiro , New York, NY, Roberta A. Kaplan , Walter Rieman , Jaren Janghorbani , Colin S. Kelly , Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, New York, NY, Arthur Eisenberg , Mariko Hirose , New York, NY, for Respondent Edith Schlain Windsor.

Kerry W. Kircher , General Counsel, William Pittard , Deputy General Counsel, Christine Davenport, Senior Assistant Counsel, Todd B. Tatelman , Mary Beth Walker , Eleni M. Roumel , Assistant Counsels Office of General Counsel, Washington, D.C, Paul D. Clement , H. Christopher Bartolomucci , Nicholas J. Nelson , Michael H. McGinley , Bancroft PLLC, Washington, D.C, for Respondent The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the United States House of Representatives.

Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. , Solicitor General, Stuart F. Delery , Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Sri Srinivasan , Deputy Solicitor General, Eric J. Feigin , Assistant to the Solicitor General, Michael Jay Singer , August E. Flentje , Helen L. Gilbert , Adam C. Jed , Washington, D.C, for the United States on the Jurisdictional Questions.


Justice KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court.

Two women then resident in New York were married in a lawful ceremony in Ontario, Canada, in 2007. Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer returned to their home in New York City. When Spyer died in 2009, she left her entire estate to Windsor. Windsor sought to claim the estate tax exemption for surviving spouses. She was barred from doing so, however, by a federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act, which excludes a same-sex...

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