The lecture is called “Defeating DOMA: United States v. Windsor and the Future of Marriage Equality” and will include discussion about the 2013 Supreme Court case, according to an IU press release.
The case, United ?States v. Windsor, was filed by Edith Windsor, who wanted to claim a federal tax exemption for surviving spouses from the death of Thea Spyer, who she married in Canada, according to the press release.
However, she was unable to do so because the Defense of Marriage Act defined marriage as between a man and a woman on the federal level, according to the press ?release.
Kaplan represented Windsor and helped win her case. Windsor filed the suit in 2010, according to the press release.
In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that DOMA was unconstitutional and therefore caused the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages, according to the press ?release.
Maurer associate professor Steve Sanders will introduce Kaplan at the lecture. Sanders and Kaplan, along with Dale Carpenter, a University of Minnesota law professor, are co-counsel on a recent Supreme Court amicus brief known as the People’s Brief sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, according to the release.
While at IU, Kaplan will also participate in a panel discussion for the kickoff of the Harmony-Meier Institute, which has a mission to proliferate the values and practice of democracy and equity in education, according to the press ?release.
Kaplan’s visit is sponsored by the American Constitution Society, Outlaw, IU Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Alumni Association, Mauer LGBT Alumni Advisory Board, LGBT Project, Black Law Students Association, Law Students for Reproductive Justice, National Lawyer’s Guild and Feminist Law Forum, the Harmony School Deborah Meier Institute for Democracy and Equity in Education and the IU School of Education, according to the press release.
The panel will be at 6 p.m. today in the IU ?Auditorium lobby.
Suzanne Grossman
