Text of US SB 598 (2011)

II 112TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 598 To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for State regulation of marriage. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 16, 2011 Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. LEAHY, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. AKAKA, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. COONS, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. INOUYE, Mr. KERRY, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. SCHUMER, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for State regulation of marriage. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Respect for Marriage 4 Act of 2011’’. 5 VerDate Mar 15 2010 23:51 Mar 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S598.IS S598 rfrederick on DSKD9S0YB1PROD with BILLS 2 •S 598 IS SEC. 2. REPEAL OF SECTION ADDED TO TITLE 28, UNITED 1 STATES CODE, BY SECTION 2 OF THE DE- 2 FENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT. 3 Section 1738C of title 28, United States Code, is re- 4 pealed, and the table of sections at the beginning of chap- 5 ter 115 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by 6 striking the item relating to that section. 7 SEC. 3. MARRIAGE RECOGNITION. 8 Section 7 of title 1, United States Code, is amended 9 to read as follows: 10 ‘‘§ 7. Marriage 11 ‘‘(a) For the purposes of any Federal law in which 12 marital status is a factor, an individual shall be considered 13 married if that individual’s marriage is valid in the State 14 where the marriage was entered into or, in the case of 15 a marriage entered into outside any State, if the marriage 16 is valid in the place where entered into and the marriage 17 could have been entered into in a State. 18 ‘‘(b) In this section, the term ‘State’ means a State, 19 the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 20 Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United 21 States.’’. 22 Æ VerDate Mar 15 2010 23:51 Mar 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S598.IS S598 rfrederick on DSKD9S0YB1PROD with BILLS