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Federal Defense of Marriage Act
The Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 was passed by the 104th Congress
and signed into law by President Clinton. It was styled as "an Act to
define and protect the institution of marriage," and it does two
things. First, it provides that no State shall be required to give
effect to a law of any other State with respect to a same-sex
"marriage":
No State, territory, or possession of
the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect
to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State,
territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between
persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws
of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or
claim arising from such relationship. Pub. L. 104-199 sec. 2, 100
Stat. 2419 (Sep. 21, 1996) codified at 28 U.S.C. §1738C (1997).
This section is an exercise of
Congress' "effects" power under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of
the United States Constitution to allow each state to decide for
itself whether it wants to grant legal status to same-sex "marriage."
Thus, if one state sanctioned same-sex "marriage" under its state law,
either through legislation or as interpreted by its state courts,
other states would not be placed in the position of having to give
"full faith and credit" to a definition of "marriage" counter to their
public policy.
Second, the Defense of Marriage Act defines the words "marriage" and
"spouse" for purposes of federal law as follows:
In determining the meaning of any Act
of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the
various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the
word "marriage" means only a legal union between one man and one woman
as husband and wife, and the word 'spouse' refers only to a person of
the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife. Pub. L. 104-199, sec 1,
100 Stat. 2419 (Sep. 21, 1996) codified at 1 U.S.C. §7 (1997).
This section amends the U.S. Code to
make explicit what has been understood under federal law for over 200
years: that a marriage is the legal union of a man and a woman as
husband and wife, and a spouse is a husband or wife of the opposite
sex. DOMA ensures that whatever definition of "spouse" may be used in
Federal law (the Social Security law definition, for example, runs to
dozens of lines), the word refers only to a person of the opposite
sex.
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