The Supreme Court is the next stop in the battle over the definition of
marriage, thanks to a federal appeals court partially striking down a
law defending marriage passed by a strong bipartisan majority and signed
by President Bill Clinton.
Congress enacted the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996. It
passed the House 342-67, and the Senate 85-14, with strong bipartisan
supermajorities. But DOMA is under attack in federal court. Then
President Barack Obama joined those challenges, with Attorney General
Eric Holder abandoning his duty to defend Acts of Congress in court, and
instead filing legal briefs arguing the courts should strike down DOMA.
So Congress has retained outside counsel to do Holder’s job, with its
Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) hiring the finest Supreme Court
lawyer in the nation, former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, to
defend DOMA.
Two provisions of DOMA are newsworthy. The first is Section 2,
providing that if one state creates same-sex marriage, other states are
not required to recognize them. The other is Section 3, providing that
for federal law and federal programs—such as Social Security spousal
benefits—marriage is defined as one man and one woman.
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