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Same-Sex Marriage

By Janice G. Inman

We continue this month with our discussion of some of the recent developments in the interaction between state and federal laws relating to same-sex marriage.

Last month, we began looking at the case of Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 698 F.Supp.2d 234 (D.Mass. 7/8/10), in which Massachusetts, represented by Attorney General Martha Coakley, claimed that Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution by intruding on a traditional area of exclusive state authority: the right to define and regulate family matters, including marriage. It also claimed that DOMA violates the Spending Clause by conditioning the receipt of federal funds on the Commonwealth's willingness to unconstitutionally discriminate against some of its citizens. The case involved two federal/state government programs: one that provides burial plots to veterans, and one that provides medical services to certain Massachusetts citizens. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts sued to defend its right as a state to provide these services to all of its eligible citizens, as defined by its own law.

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