Edie Windsor is owed $638,000 plus interest

After Thea Spyer died in 2009, her spouse, Edie Windsor, had to pay $638,000 in estate tax payments to the IRS and the state of New York because DOMA only recognized marriages between a man and a woman. Following the Supreme Court’s DOMA ruling, Windsor, the plaintiff that brought the case before the Court, gets that money back – plus about $70,000 in interest. What kind of cut goes to her lawyer? None – the case was taken pro bono.