Con Law Professors Weigh In on The Constitutionality of DOMA

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Professor Dale Carpenter of University of Minnesota Law School asked constitutional law professors whether they believe the DOMA is constitutional.  He sent the survey to 1,579 constitutional law teachers that were listed in the 2011-12 directory of the Association of American Law Schools.  485 of those professors responded to his survey. 

Professor Carpenter’s results showed that 87% of constitutional law professors support marriage for same-sex couples, and 7 out of 10 professors think DOMA is unconstitutional.  A smaller 54% of the professors think that the Constitution requires states to recognize same sex marriage.

See Joe Palazzolo, Survey: 7 Out of 10 Con Law Profs Think DOMA is Unconstitutional, The Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Sept. 7, 2012.   

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.