Defense of Marriage Act

Defense of Marriage Act

Long title	An Act to define and protect the institution of marriage
Acronyms (colloquial)	DOMA
Enacted by	the 104th United States Congress
Effective	September 21, 1996; 28 years ago (1996-09-21)
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 104–199 (text) (PDF)
Statutes at Large	110 Stat. 2419 (1996)
Codification
Titles amended	1 U.S.C. General Provisions 28 U.S.C. Judiciary and Judicial Procedure
U.S.C. sections created	1 U.S.C. § 7 (Struck down, June 26, 2013)
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 3396 by Bob Barr (R–GA) on May 7, 1996 Committee consideration by House Judiciary Passed the House on July 12, 1996 (342–67) Passed the Senate on September 10, 1996 (85–14) Signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 21, 1996
Major amendments
Repealed by Respect for Marriage Act on December 13, 2022
United States Supreme Court cases
United States v. Windsor, No. 12-307, 570 U.S. 744 (2013), in which Section 3 (1 U.S.C. § 7) was struck down by the Supreme Court on June 26, 2013. Obergefell v. Hodges, No. 14-566, 576 U.S. 644 (2015), in which Section 2 (1 U.S.C. § 7) was rendered superseded and unenforceable by the Supreme Court.

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The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 21, 1996. It banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage by limiting the definition of marriage to the union of one man and one woman, and it further allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states.

Congressman Bob Barr and Senator Don Nickles, both members of the Republican Party, introduced the bill that became DOMA in May 1996. It passed both houses of Congress by large, veto-proof majorities. Support was bipartisan, though about a third of the Democratic caucus in both the House and Senate opposed it. Clinton criticized DOMA as "divisive and unnecessary". He nonetheless signed it into law in September 1996.

Section 2 of the act allowed states to deny recognition of same-sex marriages conducted by other states. Section 3 codified non-recognition of same-sex marriages for all federal purposes, including insurance benefits for government employees, social security survivors' benefits, immigration, bankruptcy, and the filing of joint tax returns. It also excluded same-sex spouses from the scope of laws protecting families of federal officers, laws evaluating financial aid eligibility, and federal ethics laws applicable to opposite-sex spouses.^{[1]: 23–24}

After its passage, DOMA was subject to numerous lawsuits and repeal efforts. In United States v. Windsor (2013), the U.S. Supreme Court declared Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause, thereby requiring the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages conducted by the states. In Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the Court held that same-sex marriage was a fundamental right protected by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause. The ruling required all states to perform and recognize the marriages of same-sex couples, leaving Section 2 of DOMA as superseded and unenforceable. On December 13, 2022, DOMA was repealed by the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act which was signed into law by President Joe Biden, who had previously voted in favor of DOMA as a Senator from Delaware.