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Full-Text Articles in Law
Class, Politics, Gender And The Marriage Divide In The United States, Naomi R. Cahn, June Carbone
Class, Politics, Gender And The Marriage Divide In The United States, Naomi R. Cahn, June Carbone
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
In this article we use the idea of the 'marriage divide' to describe the transformation of the family to meet the needs of the information economy and the divisions that the transformation has created. In doing so, we emphasise three types of 'marriage divides' in the United States: class and racial, ideological and political, and family law/gender ideology.
Whither/Wither Alimony?, June Carbone, Naomi R. Cahn
Whither/Wither Alimony?, June Carbone, Naomi R. Cahn
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Can alimony be saved? Historically, alimony protected women's dependence during marriage. The most fundamental challenge for its continuation therefore rests on reconciling alimony with an era in which the majority of women, including 71% of mothers with children under 18, are in the labor market. This requires reconsideration of the nature of marriage, not just as a partnership ideal, which arguably it has long been, or as a relationship between equals, which has emerged more recently, but as an integrated part of a new economic model. This review of The Marriage Buyout by Cynthia Starnes assesses her justification for the …
The 'Federal Law Of Marriage': Deference, Deviation, And Doma, W. Burlette Carter
The 'Federal Law Of Marriage': Deference, Deviation, And Doma, W. Burlette Carter
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
The article discusses the history of federal inroads into marriage by examining federal interventions during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, argues that, in some cases but not all, marriages' federal benefits are indeed intended to support natural procreation, argues that DOMA's underlying statutes are key to ascertaining the purposes of federal marriage benefits and burdens, distinguishes sexual orientation discrimination from race discrimination and offers a proposal for dealing with equal protection challenges to denials of marriage rights to same sex couples. The proposal, which depends upon dual standards of review, recognizes the historical denial of family rights to same …
The Past, Present And Future Of The Marital Presumption, Naomi R. Cahn, June Carbone
The Past, Present And Future Of The Marital Presumption, Naomi R. Cahn, June Carbone
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
The marital presumption is deeply rooted in Anglo-American law: a husband and wife are assumed to be the father and mother of any child born during their marriage. With the advent of sophisticated genetic testing, no-fault divorce and changing family structures, however, American states are now questioning the continued validity of the presumption. Paternity can be determined with certainty and much of the stigma associated with the circumstances of a child’s birth has disappeared. In the face of these changes, the presumption has been exposed as a legal fiction without a simple meaning, even as it continues to confer parenthood: …
Marriage, Parentage And Child Support, Naomi R. Cahn, June Carbone
Marriage, Parentage And Child Support, Naomi R. Cahn, June Carbone
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
While child support calculations have become a matter of routine, the parental determinations, on which they rest, have not. Marriage once served as a system to channel childrearing into two-parent families. Within this system, the marital presumption discouraged efforts to inquire too closely into circumstances that might rebut a husband’s paternity and the stigma against non marital births and divorce eliminated much of the need for such determinations. Today, forty-one percent of American births are non marital and Americans lead the world in family instability. Yet, no comprehensive system has arisen to replace marriage or the marital presumption. This articles …
Same-Sex Family Equality And Religious Freedom, Ira C. Lupu, Robert W. Tuttle
Same-Sex Family Equality And Religious Freedom, Ira C. Lupu, Robert W. Tuttle
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
In the spring of 2009, the legislatures of Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont became the first in the U.S. to enact laws recognizing the legality of same-sex civil marriage. The legislation in all four states included provisions designed to protect the freedom of clergy and religious communities that do not want to recognize same-sex marriage. The legislation in several of the states also included provisions designed to insulate religious organizations from obligations that might arise from the legalization of same-sex marriage – for example, with respect to adoption or the provision of housing to married couples. Despite academic and …
Marriages Of Convenience: International Marriage Brokers, 'Mail-Order Brides,' And Domestic Servitude, Suzanne H. Jackson
Marriages Of Convenience: International Marriage Brokers, 'Mail-Order Brides,' And Domestic Servitude, Suzanne H. Jackson
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005 (IMBRA) expands federal regulation of the burgeoning "mail-order bride" industry by requiring international matchmaking agencies to conduct minimal criminal background checks on their U.S.-based clients and disclose the results to participating women, obtaining their signed consent before releasing any contact information to male clients. Two federal suits challenging IMBRA complain that it violates equal protection guarantees by exempting not-for-profit and religious matchmaking agencies, and violates First Amendment protections for commercial speech by regulating the agencies' communications with its clients. Defenders of the law's constitutionality accurately but incompletely describe IMBRA's purpose as preventing …
Red Families V. Blue Families, Naomi R. Cahn, June Carbone
Red Families V. Blue Families, Naomi R. Cahn, June Carbone
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
The "culture wars," as they play out in high profile Supreme Court decisions and legislative fights over abortion and same-sex marriage, are first and foremost about family values. Central to these differences - and the focus of the article - is the fact that different families in different parts of the country are leading different lives. The one clear, organizing principle that distinguishes the two systems: age of family formation. The defining characteristic of what we term the "new middle class morality" is delay in family formation until the late twenties or early thirties. This new morality, which correlates more …