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ÂOrange County, CA, October 10, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Unites States Supreme Court today issued an Order declining to hear a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The case is Smelt v. Orange County, and it is one of the last remaining challenges to DOMA. Liberty Counsel intervened in this case on behalf of Campaign for Children and Families in 2004 in order to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman and to defend DOMA.

The federal DOMA allows states to reject same-sex marriages from other states. The challenge to DOMA in this case was bizarre, because the statute only applies when one state refuses to accept the validity of an out-of-state, same-sex union.

In Smelt, the same-sex couple who challenged DOMA had no legal, same-sex union from any state. In 2005, federal district court Judge Gary Taylor dismissed the Plaintiffs’ challenge to DOMA. Judge Taylor held that there was no fundamental right to same-sex marriage and that because the Plaintiffs had no legal same-sex union from any state, they could not challenge DOMA. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this ruling in 2006, dismissing the challenge.

The same-sex couple asked the Supreme Court to hear the case and to reverse the Ninth Circuit. The Court’s Order today brings to an end this challenge to the federal DOMA.Â

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, stated, “This is not just a good day for marriage, it’s a great year for marriage. This case drives another nail in the coffin of same-sex marriage.

  Liberty Counsel has defended more than 40 same-sex marriage cases since 2004 with a 100% success rate.