NEW YORK -- A federal appeals court in Manhattan has become the second in the nation to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling Thursday. The decision upholds a low court judge who ruled that the 1996 law that defines marriage as involving a man and a woman was unconstitutional.

The three-judge panel said the law violates equal protection. A federal appeals court in Boston earlier this year also found the laws unconstitutional.

"Today's decision is a major step forward in the fight for equality," said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a release. "I am pleased that the court recognized that the federal Defense of Marriage Act lacks an adequate justification and violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution... My office will continue to fight every day to defend the fundamental guarantee of equal protection of the law for all New Yorkers."

(Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.)