An Amendment to Protect Marriage : Bad in Theory, Likely Worse in Practice

This article discusses the Federal Marriage Protection Amendment (FMPA), which is open to a broad range of constructions. Even had it been better crafted, it still would have been open to multiple interpretations, as is evidenced by the numerous readings of the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution that have been offered by the Court, as well as by some of the very broad constructions given to seemingly clear and narrow language in some of the recent state marriage amendments. The article concludes that the FMPA, both as it has been proposed and as it likely will appear even if modified, should not be passed