Martin Edward Whelan III, better known at the National Review as Ed Whelan, writes,
“If Congress had the authority to enact the federal statutory provisions that contain the words “marriage†and “spouse†… then surely it had the authority to define what those words mean in those federal statutory provisions.”
In other words, before the Defense of Marriage Act, marriage was not officially confined to a man and a woman, and DOMA redefined it.
He ends with this bit of zero-sum conservative (dare I say it?) voodoo-economics:
“What Massachusetts is really seeking, and what Touro is commanding, is that federal taxpayers subsidize same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.”
As if!