The Constitution does not grant the federal government the right to define, recognize, penalize, reward, or otherwise interfere in marriage. Marriage, as recognized by government, is a non-religious civil contract, recognized and administered by states. The federal government's only authority is to ensure that the various states give full faith and credit to public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. That means that the federal government's only authority in marriage is to ensure that marriage contracts recorded in one state are fully recognized by other states, even if those states' laws do not allow recording of the same contract.
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