Senate DOMA Hearing Scheduled for Next Week

The first Senate hearing on legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act will be held July 20, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy announced Tuesday. A witness list for the hearing has yet to be finalized.

The hearing on the Respect for Marriage Act, one first announced last week, is subtitled, "Assessing the Impact of DOMA on American Families."

"Until DOMA's enactment, the federal government had always honored marriages celebrated in the states," Freedom to Marry national campaign director Marc Solomon said in a Tuesday statement. "It's time for Congress to end this gay exception and allow legally married same-sex couples access to the tools and security available to all other couples to build a life together and protect their families."

The Senate Judiciary Committee's Tuesday update on the hearing:

UPDATE [Tuesday, July 12]: The hearing entitled "S.598, The Respect for Marriage Act: Assessing the Impact of DOMA on American Families" has been scheduled for Wednesday, July 20, at 10:00 a.m. in room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The hearing will be webcast LIVE online. Witnesses will be announced in the coming days.