The Supreme Court on Wednesday continues its examination of same-sex marriage, this time considering whether Congress may withhold federal benefits from legally wed gay couples by defining marriage as only between a man and a woman. The arguments will focus on a key section of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.
The Obama administration has said that it will not defend the law, known as DOMA, and lower courts have said it is unconstitutional to deny federal benefits to same-sex couples who are legally married in the states where they live while offering the same benefits to opposite-sex married couples.