The Justice Department has abandoned challenges to two nationwide class action lawsuits seeking Social Security benefits for surviving partners of same-sex relationships.
The lawsuits were filed in 2018 by gay-rights group Lambda Legal, which argued the Social Security Administration was unlawfully excluding same-sex couples from benefits because they had been unable to marry due to now-retracted state marriage bans.
District courts sided with the California-based advocacy group last year, finding that the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges requires the SSA to provide benefits to the surviving partners.
The SSA and DOJ previously appealed the rulings but the agencies have now decided to drop the challenges.
The Biden administration has said the lawsuit applied to a “relatively small” group of people impacted by lost benefits from before 2015.
Lambda attorney Peter Renn said the organization commends the Biden administration for “respecting the constitutional rights of same-sex couples and choosing the right side of history.”
“This is a historic development with immense implications: survivor’s benefits are now equally available to everyone, including potentially thousands of same-sex partners who could not marry their loved ones and may have thought it was futile to apply,” Mr. Renn said in a statement.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the decision beyond citing its letter last month to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat.
In the three-page letter, the DOJ said the “unusual circumstances” surrounding the suits led it to determine that continuing to pursue appeals would not be in the best interest of the U.S.
The department said the cases involved a “relatively small” class of people whose same-sex partners died before or shortly after the high court’s decision in 2015. These circumstances, it said, are “unlikely to recur in the future.”
The department also said pursuing the appeals would pose litigation risk because a broad Ninth Circuit ruling “could threaten to affect not just the narrow class at issue here, but also other important governmental interests involving the application of equal protection principles to federal statutes and regulations.”
Even if the appellate court found in favor of the DOJ, the department said claimants who disagree with the SSA’s decisions could sue, prompting further litigation.
The Social Security Administration did not respond to a request for comment.
• Emily Zantow can be reached at ezantow@washingtontimes.com.
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