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Constitutional Law Keyed to Farber
United States v. Windsor
Citation:
United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. 744, 133 S. Ct. 2675, 186 L.Ed.2d 808 (2013]?";p[[[[['Facts
The Defense of Marriage Act was enacted in 1996. Section 3 of the Act states that, for the purposes of federal law, the words “marriage” and “spouse” refer to legal unions between a man and a woman as husband and wife. After the passage of the Act, some states authorized same-sex marriage. While DOMA did not prevent states from recognizing same-sex marriages or civil unions and allowing benefits under them, it did apply to more than one thousand federal laws.
Edith Windsor and Thea Clara Spyer married in Canada and their marriage was recognized by New York state law. Spyer’s will left her estate to her spouse, but because their marriage was not recognized by federal law, the government imposed $vb 363,000 in taxes on Windsor. The estate of opposite sex spouses qualified for a marital exemption with no taxes imposed.
Windsor sued, claiming DOMA violated her equal protection rights.
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