3 - Under Siege

Summary

In 1788, Alexander Hamilton argued that judges served as the fundamental safeguard against “serious oppressions of the minor party in the community.” After 225 years, questions over the extent to which judges would go to protect minority rights once again swirled around the Supreme Court. On the morning of June 26, 2013, the Court was slated to announce the final rulings of its term. Two blockbuster civil rights decisions loomed. In United States v. Windsor (2013), the Court faced a constitutional challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), under which the government interpreted marriage protections to apply only to opposite-sex unions. In Hollingsworth v. Perry (2013), the Court considered a challenge to a California referendum known as Proposition 8, which provided that only opposite-sex marriages would be recognized under state law.¹