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Congress Moves To Suspend Judicial Review To Protect The Unconstitutional Defense Of Marriage Act, Christina Okon
Congress Moves To Suspend Judicial Review To Protect The Unconstitutional Defense Of Marriage Act, Christina Okon
Student Thesis Honors (1996-2008)
Striving to preserve the institution of marriage for heterosexual couples, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996. DOMA was billed as promoting state autonomy by letting the states decide whether same-sex couples might legally wed, and whether or not to validate one another's decisions regarding same-sex marriage. Not convinced that the states could correctly decide so vital an issue, Congress launched the Federal Marriage Amendment in May 2003, defining marriage as restricted to a legal union between one man and one woman across the nation. However, fearing the light of scrutiny by what they call the activist …