Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Religion & Law Blogs -> Constitutionally Correct

Religion & Law

: Constitutionally Correct

?The federalism trap in same-sex marriage litigation?

By Alliance Alert

Professor Michael Dorf: "Massachusetts, which has also sued, could win on state sovereignty grounds. Hoping to duck the direct issue of same-sex marriage, the Court could hold that Congress has no business defining marriage because the law of domestic relations is within the reserved powers of the states. Indeed, Massachusetts urges just this result. Yet winning in this way would be a double-edged sword: If the Court strikes down DOMA Section 3 on the ground that the states get to define marriage, that very holding will be invoked by states that do not recognize same-sex marriage in resisting an argument that their laws deny equal protection."

Full post as published by Constitutionally Correct on September 01, 2009 (boomark / email).