[Man50D]

DOMA is unconstitutional but not for the reason Tauro cites. Regulating marriage is not an enumerated power specifically listed in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution. Therefore that is a right reserved to the states per the 10th Amendment.

[OldDeckHand]

"DOMA is unconstitutional but not for the reason Tauro cites. Regulating marriage is not an enumerated power specifically listed in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution. Therefore that is a right reserved to the states per the 10th Amendment."

No, Tauro makes that very assertion in Massachusetts v. HHS, which was one of the two companion suits that he issued his opinion on.

[NurdlyPeon]

DOMA is unconstitutional but not for the reason Tauro cites. Regulating marriage is not an enumerated power specifically listed in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution. Therefore that is a right reserved to the states per the 10th Amendment.

And the states do have the right to regulate marraige, the same as they can regulate the production, distribution, and consumption of alcohol. It doesn't mean that states have the right to REDEFINE the chemical composition of an alcohol molecule. There are some things that the states can define inivdually, but there are some things the we need define as a nation; one single, common definition. Marraige is one of those things.