Robert Mueller - Page 4




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          Phamis, Inc., and Northwest Community Hospital.  Mr. Bates was              
          unemployed in 1996.  The 1996 return does not reflect any income            
          earned by Mr. Bates.                                                        
                                       OPINION                                        
               Petitioner is no stranger to this Court.  Petitioner                   
          received an adverse ruling on the very issue before us for his              
          earlier taxable years 1986 through 1995 in Mueller v.                       
          Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2000-132 (Mueller I), affd. without                
          published opinion 87 AFTR 2d 2001-2052, 2001-1 USTC par. 50,391,            
          (7th Cir. 2001).                                                            
               The basic difference between Mueller I and this case is that           
          the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Pub. L. 104-199, 110 Stat.              
          2419 (1996), was in effect during 1996, the year in issue and was           
          not in effect for the earlier years in Mueller I.  DOMA sec. 2,             
          110 Stat. 2419, provides that no State, territory, U.S.                     
          possession or Indian tribe is required to give effect to any                
          public act, record, or judicial proceeding of another such                  
          organization with respect to a relationship between persons of              
          the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such           
          other organizations or a right or claim arising from such                   
          relationship.  DOMA sec. 3, 110 Stat. 2419, provides that in                
          determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, any ruling,                 
          regulation, or interpretation of the U.S. administrative bureaus            
          and agencies, the word “marriage” means only a legal union                  





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