Remember the claim that the Defense of Marriage Act was designed simply to prevent the nationalization of gay marriage under the “Full Faith & Credit” clause?
Surprise!
Stuart Levine points to a recent IRS ruling interpreting DOMA to mean that a state, in running its own pension plan for its own employees, can’t extend certain benefits to domestic partners or gay couples married under the state’s own laws without causing the entire pension plan to lose its qualification for Federal tax purposes.