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48 Syracuse L. Rev. 227 (1998)
Ex Post Facto Laws, Bills of Attainder, and the Definition of Punishment: On DOMA, the Hawaii Amendment, and Federal Constitutional Constraints

handle is hein.journals/syrlr48 and id is 251 raw text is: EX POST FACTO LAWS, BILLS OF ATTAINDER, AND THE DEFINITION OF PUNISHMENT: ON DOMA, THE HAWAII AMENDMENT, AND FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL CONSTRAINTS Mark Strasser' CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 227 I. Ex POST FACTO LAWS ................................................................. 229 A. The Constitutional Prohibition ............................................ 229 B. Ex Post Facto Laws ............................................................. 230 II. BILLS OF ATTAINDER ................................................................. 238 A. Historical Background ......................................................... 238 B. What Is a Bill of Attainder? ................................................. 240 C. The Purposes of the Clause ................................................. 246 D. Specifi city ............................................................................ 247 III. DOMA AND THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT ............................... 251 A . D OAM .................................................................................. 251 B. Proposed Hawaii Amendment .............................................. 257 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 258 INTRODUCTION During the summer of 1996, Congress passed and the President signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which denied recognition of same-sex marriages for federal purposes and which purportedly gave each state the right not to recognize such marriages even if validly celebrated in another state.' A proposed amendment to the Hawaii t Associate Professor of Law, Capital University Law School. B.A., Harvard Univer- sity, Ph.D., University of Chicago, J.D., Stanford University. 1. Pub. L. No. 104-99, 110 Stat. 2419 (1996). In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word 'marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one