Ruling 5-4, the Supreme Court today struck down a federal law that recognized lawful marriages as only between between a man and a woman.

The dispute before the court revolved around the Defense of Marriage Act signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Among other things, the law defines, for federal purposes, marriage as the union of a man and woman. That denies a host of federal benefits — including Social Security survivors’ benefits, insurance benefits for government employees and estate taxes — to same-sex couples, even those granted the right to marry in another country or any of the 12 states and the District of Columbia that recognize such nuptials.

Two federal appeals courts had declared DOMA unconstitutional. […]