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Full-Text Articles in Law
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: …