Defense of Marriage Act The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is a
federal law passed in 1996 that both created a federal
definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman and
expressly gave states permission to refuse to recognize
marriages entered into by same-sex couples in other
jurisdictions. The part of DOMA that defines marriage at the
federal level – known as Section 3 – was a radical departure
from 220 years of federal practice, which was to rely on each
state to define marriage and to recognize any marriage legally
entered into under state law as a valid marriage for federal
purposes. We are challenging Section 3 of DOMA on behalf of our
client Edie Windsor in Windsor v. United States, which is
currently pending before the Supreme Court of the United States.
In June, the Court will rule on whether DOMA violates equal
protection by treating married gay couples as unmarried in over
1,100 federal programs.