What just happened re: DOMA

[Ms. Toad]

40. We'll see.

Since federal recognition has always followed state definition (read the opinion), when a state chooses not to recognize a marriage (and the court was very clear that this is a state's right) - there is no marriage for the Federal government to recognize and grant benefits to.

What is not clear is whether a marriage once recognized at the federal level vanishes when the couple later moves. I would have said it was a given that they did not vanish (the IRS' position on transgender couples who become a same sex couple post transition - for example - who are allowed to continue to file as a married couple notwithstanding DOMA).

But this decision also inadvertently changes when a marriage comes into existence. That moment has always been at the moment the couple says "I do" (signs the certificate, or whatever formalities the state requires). Nothing that happens after that point matters.

When Edie Windsor got married in Canada, that moment did not create a legally cognizable marriage in New York which - at that time - prohibited same gender marriages. So something later changed that status - but traditional analysis does not permit considering anything after that magic moment in Canada.

So - frankly - it is a big mess and will take quite some time to sort out.

I hope you and SCOTUSBlog are correct - but that is not my reading.