LEGAL EASE
by Shane Givens and Summer McWhorter

April 3, 2013

What is DOMA?


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This week's big topic in the news has been DOMA, the federal Defense of Marriage Act enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996.

This act restricts federal marriage benefits. It also provides that only opposite-sex marriages must be recognized by the states. States were not required to recognize same-sex marriages from other states. Section three of the Act basically defined “marriage” for purposes of the federal government. This includes many federal purposes, such as filing joint tax returns, Social Security survivor benefits, and insurance benefits for federal employees.

At the time the bill passed, it had great support in Congress and was also supported by the president. Recently, the law has been challenged in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. This case presented the rare circumstance where the American government did not speak with one voice before the Supreme Court.

Since taking office, the Obama administration has stated that section three of the law is unconstitutional. While the administration continued to enforce it, they declined to defend it in court. In this situation, instead of the Department of Justice defending the law, the House of Representatives instructed the House General Counsel to defend the law as it stands. There have been various challenges to this law. Two federal appeals courts have already found parts of the law to be unconstitutional.

One of those cases involving a challenge to DOMA, United States v. Windsor, was heard just this past Wednesday, March 27 by the U.S. Supreme Court. In Windsor, a surviving partner of a same-sex couple filed suit because she was required to pay estate taxes on her inheritance from her deceased partner. Windsor and her partner were a same-sex couple from New York, married in 2007 in Canada. One partner died in 2009. Windsor, the surviving partner, had to pay estate taxes in excess of $300,000 on the inheritance she received because DOMA did not recognize their marriage. A same-sex couple normally does not pay estate taxes in that situation.

In oral arguments, much of the discussion had to do with issues of federalism. States have, for the most part, governed the institution of marriage. The question now is does this law step of the toes of the state? Does it interfere with the right of the states to decide what marriage means? Another argument in front of the Supreme Court was that DOMA violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution by discriminating against same-sex couples.

There are many legal issues involved in the challenges against DOMA. This is the first time that the Supreme Court has entertained challenges against this federal law. It is also a big deal that the U.S. government is not presented a united front in defense of this law. It's an interesting time for constitutional law buffs. We can probably expect the Court's ruling and written opinion sometime in June.

This column is intended for general information purposes only. The answers to most legal problems rely on specific facts of a particular situation; therefore, it is very important to see a lawyer when these situations arise. Please e-mail questions for future columns to givenslaw@tds.net.