President Obama’s legal decision to halt the Justice Department’s defense of DOMA will prove an important historical marker for him and the country. The DOMA decision is momentous, broad, and moving, sending to a just oblivion one of the most bigoted laws in the country’s history, one that Bill Clinton never should have signed in the first place. How important are these decisions? And what lies ahead for the gay-rights movement? The result is that same-sex marriages will now resume in California and married gay couples everywhere can receive federal marriage benefits. The Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act this morning, while dismissing the case over California’s Prop 8.
This week: SCOTUS defeats DOMA, the Voting Rights Act suffers a mortal wound, and Obama fights back on climate change.
Every week, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich talks with contributor Eric Benson about the biggest stories in politics and culture.
