Another Court Rules Marriage Law Unconstitutional
- Religion Today
- Updated Mar 11, 2013
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Another judge has ruled the Defense of Marriage Act -- the federal law defining marriage as between one man and one woman -- unconstitutional, CBN News reports. Manhattan judge Barbara Jones said DOMA interfered with states' rights to regulate the institution of marriage. "Such a sweeping federal review in this arena does not square with our federalist system of government," she wrote. The case began in 2010 when Edith Windsor sued the U.S. government to recover $353,053 in federal estate tax after she was barred from claiming it from Thea Spyer, who died in 2009. The two were married in Canada in 2007, but the marriage was not legally recognized in the United States. Jones is the fifth judge to find DOMA unconstitutional; last week, a U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston ruled that DOMA discriminated against gay couples.