civil v religious wedding

[khool 0]

The answer should be NONE.

I say this because marriage is a STATE definition and not a FEDERAL definition. In simpler words, the federal government cannot decide if a marriage is legal or not. Only the state in which you reside can do this.

The word marriage is not in the Constitution nor Bill of Rights, so therefore a legal marriage is up to each State to define (which they all have done). The IRS goes this route, but that does not mean all federal departments will see it the same way.

Of course, this won't stop federal civil servants from passing judgement on you, but they have no basis for deciding if a marriage is legal or not because only a State government can do this. If you have a valid marriage certificate and this is questioned in an interview, I would just say that this is a valid marriage in this state. I wouldn't get in an argument about it! If they want to argue, ask to speak with their supervisor and end the discussion, but it shouldn't come up.

Thanks for your lesson on Federalism. Your statement is generally true, i.e., state powers are plenary, federal powers are limited to the four corners of the U.S. Constitution. But I disagree as to your conclusion.

See, e.g., U.S. Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia (state ban of interracial marriage declared unconstitutional per the U.S. Constitution).

The reason is because marriage is often intertwined with other limited-power Federal issues, such as race, religion, or rights of privacy. Hence the Loving decision based on interracial marriage. As for religion, the validity of religious marriages are out of bounds for any government - state or federal. See First Amendment, Bill of Rights. Religious marriages alone cannot be legally recognized by any government, and cannot alone be the basis for any government benefit. Thus the need to legally register one's marriage (i.e., the legal document of a marriage certificate that is always filed with any religious ceremony).

I welcome further discussion via PM.

Edited January 3, 2007 by khool