The Supreme Court heard arguments dealing with same-sex marriage on Wednesday, taking on United States v. Windsor, which questions whether it's constitutional for the U.S. government to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages that have been recognized by the states.
The High Court heard arguments in Hollingsworth vs. Perry on Tuesday, weighing Proposition 8, California's controversial gay marriage ban.
HuffPost's Ryan Reilly and Mike Sacks reported on Wednesday:
A majority of Supreme Court justices on Wednesday morning appeared skeptical of the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage for federal purposes as between a man and a woman. Whether the justices believe they have the power to make any decision in this case, however, remained murky.
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Section 3 of DOMA, at issue in Wednesday morning's case, says "the word 'marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife" for purposes of "any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States."
Plaintiff Edie Windsor, 83, brought suit against the federal government after the Internal Revenue Service cited DOMA in denying her a refund for the $363,000 in federal estate taxes she paid following the 2009 death of Thea Spyer, her partner for over 40 years. Windsor and Spyer had married in Canada in 2007, but resided in New York. Because Windsor would have been eligible for an estate tax exemption had Spyer been a man, she argues that DOMA's Section 3 violates her equal protection rights under the Fifth Amendment.
Read the full transcript of the oral arguments in United States v. Windsor below:
See photos from the Supreme Court below, and scroll down for live blog updates:
