The Supreme Court ruled the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional Wednesday by a 5-4 vote.
DOMA, the law that barred federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized by the states, violates the Fifth Amendment, the court said.
"By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.
The Supreme Court also struck down California’s Proposition 8 ballot initiative, making same-sex marriage legal in California.
