I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 197 
To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for State regulation 
of marriage. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 7, 2015 
Mr. NADLER (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. HOYER, Mr. 
CLYBURN, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. POLIS, Mr. 
CICILLINE, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. POCAN, Ms. 
SINEMA, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. 
BROWNLEY of California, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. CA´RDENAS, 
Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Ms. CHU of California, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, 
Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. CUM-
MINGS, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. 
DELBENE, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. MICHAEL 
F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. ELLISON, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FARR, Mr. 
FOSTER, Ms. FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. GABBARD, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Ms. HAHN, 
Mr. HANNA, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. HONDA, Mr. HUFFMAN, 
Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KILMER, Ms. KUSTER, Mr. 
LANGEVIN, Ms. LEE, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. LOEBSACK, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. 
LOWENTHAL, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of 
New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. MENG, Ms. MOORE, Mr. MURPHY of 
Florida, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. PETERS, 
Ms. PINGREE, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. 
SARBANES, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. SCOTT 
of Virginia, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. SMITH 
of Washington, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Ms. TITUS, 
Mr. TONKO, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. VEASEY, 
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. WELCH, Ms. WILSON 
of Florida, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. COHEN, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. JOHNSON of 
Georgia, Mr. DELANEY, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. LINDA T. 
SA´NCHEZ of California, Ms. ESTY, and Mr. COOPER) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
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A BILL 
To repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect 
for State regulation of marriage. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Respect for Marriage 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. REPEAL OF SECTION ADDED TO TITLE 28, UNITED 
STATES CODE, BY SECTION 2 OF THE DE-
FENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT. 
Section 1738C of title 28, United States Code, is re-
pealed, and the table of sections at the beginning of chap-
ter 115 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by 
striking the item relating to that section. 
SEC. 3. MARRIAGE RECOGNITION. 
Section 7 of title 1, United States Code, is amended 
to read as follows: 
‘‘§ 7. Marriage 
‘‘(a) For the purposes of any Federal law in which 
marital status is a factor, an individual shall be considered 
married if that individual’s marriage is valid in the State 
where the marriage was entered into or, in the case of 
a marriage entered into outside any State, if the marriage 
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is valid in the place where entered into and the marriage 
could have been entered into in a State. 
‘‘(b) In this section, the term ‘State’ means a State, 
the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United 
States.’’. 
Æ 
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