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DOMA clearly made the topic a state matter. It denoted a choice for states, which led many states to take up the policy issue of marriage equality. Scores of states considered legislation and ballot initiatives on the question. The federal courts took up the issue with zeal after the U.S. Supreme Court in
United States v. Windsor struck down the part of DOMA that outlawed federal benefits.
United States v. Windsor , 570 U.S. __ (2013). That move was followed by upwards of forty federal court decisions that upheld marriage equality in particular states. In 2014, the Supreme Court decided not to hear several key case appeals from a variety of states, all of which were brought by opponents of marriage equality who had lost in the federal courts. The outcome of not hearing these cases was that federal court decisions in four states were affirmed, which, when added to other states in the same federal circuit districts, brought the total number of states permitting same-sex marriage to thirty.
Adam Liptak, “Supreme Court Delivers Tacit Win to Gay Marriage,”
New York Times , 6 October, 2014. Then, in 2015, the
Obergefell v. Hodges case had a sweeping effect when the Supreme Court clearly identified a constitutional right to marriage based on the
Fourteenth Amendment .
Obergefell v. Hodges , 576 U.S. ___ (2015).
The privileges and immunities clause of Article IV asserts that states are prohibited from discriminating against out-of-staters by denying them such guarantees as access to courts, legal protection, property rights, and travel rights. The clause has not been interpreted to mean there cannot be any difference in the way a state treats residents and non-residents. For example, individuals cannot vote in a state in which they do not reside, tuition at state universities is higher for out-of-state residents, and in some cases individuals who have recently become residents of a state must wait a certain amount of time to be eligible for social welfare benefits. Another constitutional provision prohibits states from establishing trade restrictions on goods produced in other states. However, a state can tax out-of-state goods sold within its borders as long as state-made goods are taxed at the same level.
Federal, state, and local governments depend on different sources of revenue to finance their annual expenditures. In 2014, total revenue (or receipts) reached $3.2 trillion for the federal government, $1.7 trillion for the states, and $1.2 trillion for local governments.
Data reported by http://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com/federal_revenue. State and local government figures are estimated. Two important developments have fundamentally changed the allocation of revenue since the early 1900s. First, the ratification of the
Sixteenth Amendment in 1913 authorized Congress to impose income taxes without apportioning it among the states on the basis of population, a burdensome provision that Article I, Section 9, had imposed on the national government.
Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan&Trust Co ., 158 U.S. 601 (1895). With this change, the federal government’s ability to raise revenue significantly increased and so did its ability to spend.
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