re: A little nugget about this same sex marriage bill

The legal questions around this bill have nothing to do with whether gay marriage is a good idea or whether anyone's tax status is affected or whether states have to recognize gay marriages from other states.

The legal question is whether the federal government has any legal authority to define or regulate marriage.

The answer is that the federal government has no legal authority to define or regulate marriage. The Tenth Amendment limits the power of the federal government to on those powers specifically enumerated to the federal government: Amendment X provides "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."

Art. I section 8 enumerates the powers delegated to the federal government by the states. (Remember, the states created the federal government, not vice versa). Please go read Art. I section 8, but there is nothing which gives the federal government the authority to do what it is trying to do in the "Abuse" of Marriage Act.

And that's why Justice Thomas called into question in his concurring opinion in Dobbs case (which overturned Roe v. Wade) the authority of the court to manufacture "rights" which the federal government had no authority to define.