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F o r t h e N o r t h e r n D i s t r i c t o f C a l i f o r n i a
12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTFOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIAKAREN GOLINSKI,Plaintiff, v.UNITED STATES OFFICE OF PERSONNELMANAGEMENT and JOHN BERRY, Director of the United States Office of PersonnelManagement, in his official capacity,Defendants. / No. C 10-00257 JSW
ORDER
Now before the Court are the motion to dismiss and the motion to strike filed byIntervenor-Defendant the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the United States House of Representatives (“BLAG”) and the motion for summary judgment filed by Plaintiff KarenGolinski (“Ms. Golinski”). Defendants the United States Office of Personnel Management(“the OPM”) and John Berry, its director, also filed a motion to dismiss and a response toBLAG’s motion to dismiss. These motions compel the Court to determine whether the Defenseof Marriage Act (“DOMA”), 1 U.S.C. Section 7, as applied to Ms. Golinski, violates the United States Constitution by refusing to recognize lawful marriages in the application of lawsgoverning benefits for federal employees. Having considered the parties’ papers, relevant legalauthority, and the record in this case, the Court HEREBY DENIES BLAG’s motion to dismiss;DENIES as moot BLAG’s motion to strike; GRANTS Ms. Golinski’s motion for summary judgment; and GRANTS the OPM’s motion to dismiss.
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BACKGROUND
The pertinent facts are not in dispute. Ms. Golinski is a staff attorney in the MotionsUnit of the Office of Staff Attorneys in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. (Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”) at ¶ 18.) Ms. Golinski has been partners with AmyCunninghis (“Ms. Cunninghis”) for over twenty years. They registered as domestic partnerswith the City and County of San Francisco in 1995, and with the State of California in 2003. (
Id.
at ¶¶ 15-17.) On August 21, 2008, they were legally married under the laws of the State of California. (
Id.
at ¶ 17.) Shortly after they married, Ms. Golinski sought to enroll Ms. Cunninghis in her existingfamily coverage health insurance plan, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan, whichshe purchases through her employer and which already covers the couple’s adopted minor child. (
Id.
at ¶¶ 19, 22.) The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (“AO”) refused to process her request on the basis that Ms. Golinski and her spouse are both women. (
Id.
at ¶ 23.) Finding that she could not secure comparable health insurance coverage, on October 2, 2008,Ms. Golinski filed a complaint under the Ninth Circuit’s Employment Dispute Resolution(“EDR”) Plan, and contended that the refusal to grant her health benefits was a violation of thePlan’s nondiscrimination provision. (
Id.
at ¶ 48.) The EDR Plan specifically prohibitsemployment discrimination based on, among other things, sex or sexual orientation. (
Id.
at ¶47.) By orders dated November 24, 2008 and January 13, 2009, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski,sitting in his administrative capacity as arbiter of the Judicial Council, found that Ms. Golinskihad suffered discrimination under the Court’s EDR Plan and ordered the AO to process her health benefit election forms. (
Id.
, Exs. A, B.) Chief Judge Kozinski found that the denial of health benefits was based solely on the grounds of sex and sexual orientation, in direct violationof the EDR Plan’s non-discrimination provision covering Ninth Circuit employees. (
Id.
, Ex. Bat 1-2.) Chief Judge Kozinski found that, regardless of the language in DOMA, the OPM had the discretion to extend health benefits to Ms. Golinski’s same-sex spouse by interpreting theterms “family members” and “member of the family” to set a floor, not a ceiling, to coverage
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123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627283eligibility. (
Id.
at 2-3.) Chief Judge Kozinski ordered the AO “to submit Karen Golinski’sHealth Benefits Election form 2089 ... to the appropriate insurance carrier. Any future health benefit forms are also to be processed without regard to the sex of the listed spouse.” (
Id.
, Ex.B at 7.) The AO complied, but the OPM instructed Ms. Golinski’s insurance carrier not tocomply with the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council’s remedial order. The OPM directed the AOand the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan not to process Ms. Golinski’s requeston the basis that federal law, specifically Section 3 of DOMA, defines spouse as a member of the opposite sex and, accordingly, proscribes the enrollment of Ms. Golinski’s same-sex spousein her health benefits program.In response, on November 19, 2009, Chief Judge Kozinski issued another order addressing the OPM’s conduct. The Chief Judge, again sitting as an administrator, held that hehad the authority, under both the Ninth Circuit’s EDR Plan and the separation of powersdoctrine, to interpret the laws applicable to judicial employees in a manner that would displace“any contrary interpretation by an agency or an officer of the Executive.” (
Id.
, Ex. C at 14-15.) Chief Judge Kozinski held that allowing the OPM to interfere with his orders would betantamount to permitting it to exercise “dominance over logistics to destroy [the Judiciary’s]autonomy.” (
Id.
at 11.) The Chief Judge further held that “[o]rdering enrollment is proper and within my jurisdiction because Congress intended [the EDR] tribunal to be the sole forum for adjudicating complaints of workplace discrimination by employees of the Judiciary. With thatresponsibility must come power equal to the task.” (
Id.
at 9.) Chief Judge Kozinski granted Ms. Golinski both back pay and prospective relief. Theinjunctive relief required that the OPM “rescind its guidance or directive to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit plan and any other plan that Ms. Golinski’s wife is not eligible to be enrolled as her spouse under the terms of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program because of her sex or sexual orientation, or that the plans would violate their contracts with theOPM by enrolling Ms. Golinski’s wife as a beneficiary” and “[c]ease at once its interferencewith the jurisdiction of this tribunal. Specifically, OPM shall not advise Ms. Golinski’s health
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