What are the roles of state and federal government concerning same-sex marriage?

Answer 1

In the United States, it has always been the role of the individual states to decide who can marry and which marriages are legal. The federal government has always accepted as valid whatever marriages the states say are legal.

One instance in which the federal government infringed upon states rights in the issue of marriage is the Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia. In that case, the Court ruled that all state laws preventing interracial couples from marrying were unconstitutional and struck them down.

Another instance is the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA"), a law passed by Congress that prohibits the federal government from recognizing marriages that are between two persons of the same sex. It also permits individual states to do the same.

The US Supreme Court is scheduled to review the constitutionality of section 3 of DOMA in March 2013 and rule by June 30, 2013. It will also rule on California's Proposition 8 and whether voters in that state can vote to remove the civil rights of a minority, or if such an action was unconstitutional.