Lower Court Holding in Windsor v. United States
Decision of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Plaintiff Edith Windsor sued as surviving spouse of a same-sex couple that was married in Canada in 2007 and was resident in New York at the time of her spouse’s death in 2009. Windsor was denied the benefit of the spousal deduction for Federal estate taxes solely because Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defines the words “marriage” and “spouse” in Federal law in a way that bars the Internal Revenue Service from recognizing Windsor as a spouse or the couple as married. The text of Section 3 is as follows: In determining the meaning of any…
