In the Matter of Brad Levenson

Facts

Brad Levenson has been a deputy federal public defender in the FPD since July 11, 2005. He and Tony Sears have been partners for 15 years. They registered their domestic partner- ship on March 16, 2000, and were married in California on July 12, 2008. On July 15, 2008, Levenson requested that his husband be added as a family member beneficiary of his fed- eral benefits. That request was denied on the basis of a memo- randum prepared by the Office of the Circuit Executive stating that the provision of benefits to same-sex spouses is prohibited by DOMA. According to the memorandum:

[T]he federal government does not recognize a same-sex union as marriage for any purpose, even if the state law recognizes such unions as marriages.

Judicial Branch employees work for the federal government. The federal law defines a federal employee’s rights to health benefits, and those bene- fits are delivered through the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program. For this reason, we can not [sic] extend any health benefits beyond those prescribed by federal law.

Levenson alleges that this denial violates the EDR Plan, as well as the Constitution.

The EDR Plan was adopted by the Ninth…