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Federal Policies and Laws

In the United States, marriage is governed primarily by state law. Each state is free to govern marriage, as long as state policies and laws relating to marriage do not conflict with the state's own constitution or the Constitution of the United States. However, the U.S. federal government has occasionally governed marriage, beginning in 1862 with the Morrill Act, which made plural marriages a federal offense. More recently, in 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) became law. DOMA sets out a federal legal definition of marriage for the purposes of federal law and federal programs.