Business Law and the Legal Environment 7th Edition by Jeffrey Beatty,Susan Samuelson

Exercise 3

The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. As a result, same-sex couples were not eligible for the federal marriage benefits given to heterosexual couples. Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer had been together for 40 years, and married for two, when Spyer died. Because of DOMA, the federal government did not treat Windsor as a surviving spouse for purposes of estate taxes, so she was presented with a tax bill of $363,000. If she had been married to a man, she would not have owed any taxes. Windsor challenged the statute, claiming the government had violated her right to equal protection. Should she win?