Feds defy order to provide same-sex benefits

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 12/18/9 | Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

[SmithL]

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Obama administration refused Friday to follow a federal judge's order to provide insurance benefits to the wife of a lesbian court employee in San Francisco and said its hands were tied by a discriminatory law.

"This issue shows exactly why Congress needs to repeal" the law, which prohibits federal benefits to same-sex couples, government lawyer Elaine Kaplan said in a message to attorneys for court employee Karen Golinski.

One of Golinski's lawyers, Jenny Pizer of the gay-rights group Lambda Legal, said Kaplan's response was "something we might have expected from the Bush or Reagan administration, and not from a 'fierce advocate' of LBGT rights," as President Obama has described himself.

The case is one of two in which the Office of Personnel Management has balked at orders by judges on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to provide coverage to the same-sex spouses of federal employees.

Golinski, a staff attorney at the appeals court's headquarters, married her partner, Amy Cunninghis, after the state Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in California in May 2008. The court preserved 18,000 such marriages this May while upholding Proposition 8, the November 2008 ballot measure that undid the earlier ruling.

[SmithL]

Well Damn!

[SmithL]

Kozinski, Alex

Born 1950 in Bucharest, Romania

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Nominated by Ronald Reagan on June 5, 1985, to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333; Confirmed by the Senate on November 7, 1985, and received commission on November 7, 1985. Served as chief judge, 2007-present.

Chief judge, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, 1982-1985

Education:
University of California, Los Angeles, A.B., 1972

University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, J.D., 1975

Professional Career:
Law clerk, Hon. Anthony Kennedy, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1975-1976
Law clerk, Chief Justice Warren Burger, Supreme Court of the United States, 1976-1977
Private practice, Los Angeles, California, 1977-1979
Private practice, Washington, DC, 1979-1981
Deputy legal counsel, Office of the President-Elect, Washington, DC, 1980-1981
Assistant counsel, Office of Counsel to the President, Washington, DC, 1981
Special counsel, Merit Systems Protection Board, Washington, DC, 1981-1982

Race or Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male

[Vendome]

Sounds like Barry O. is continuing GW policies.

[sinanju]

Correction. GWB never had the guts to just defy the Ninth Circus like that.

[chilltherats]

Kozinski is one of the few sane judges on the ninth.

[chilltherats]

Whoops! I had Kozinski mixed up with someone else. He’s a loon.

[metesky]

married her partner, Amy Cunninghis

Damned dykes can't spell either...

[Vendome]

Actually I am working on my pitch to my friends on the other side. I wanna drive em’ nuts.

I am going to call their guy a loser sometimes but I want them to feel disafected with Barry O., Their post racial Leader or loser.

They are already feeling out sorts with this chump and I need to perfect my pitch.

[sbMKE]

Notice how the gays aren’t suing private employers for same-sex partner benefits?

The reason? The plans aren’t as good as the gold-plated, bought by extortion money plans offered by the government.

The solution? Force these maggots to buy their own insurance - kill off the “public servant” plans and see how many of these “poor humble” servants are really devoted to the cause.

Or give them a high deductible HMO plan with co-pays and see how many of them keep suing.

[chuck_the_tv_out]

the solution is get government out of marriage all together. they have no business giving “benefits” based on anything other than work.

what about the discrimination against single people?

I can’t believe we’re not pushing that angle. that should be the way we fight this.

[MSF BU]

Another first generation immigrant liberal. Not the date of graduation and the military service.

[I got the rope]

Could you imagine the can of worms this will open? Same-sex couples are not really married. So what about hetero-couples that are not married?

This stupid judge didn’t think this through. Benefits for live-in boyfriends or girlfriends!

Ugh.