A state judge's welcome ruling on Friday that New Jersey must allow same-sex couples to marry was legally sound, full of common sense and a strong signal to the New Jersey Legislature to renew its efforts to make such unions legal.
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The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that same-sex couples were entitled "on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples." But the court split on the question of whether same-sex couples had a right to marry under the State Constitution. In 2012, the State Legislature voted to allow same-sex marriage, but the bill was vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie.
The basic injustice of allowing civil unions but not same-sex marriage became significantly more egregious when, following the Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage in June, federal agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services began rolling out new rules providing for federal benefits for lawfully married same-sex couples.
This injustice lay at the heart of Friday's forceful ruling by Judge Mary Jacobson of State Superior Court in Mercer County. "The ineligibility of same-sex couples for federal benefits is currently harming same-sex couples in New Jersey in a wide range of contexts," she wrote. "Same-sex couples must be allowed to marry in order to obtain equal protection of the law under the New Jersey Constitution." Judge Jacobson noted, for example, that couples in civil unions may not enjoy the protections of the Family Medical Leave Act or access the same federal tax benefits as married couples. Her 53-page decision thoroughly demolished the state's argument that New Jersey could not be held responsible for not treating same-sex couples equally because it was the federal government that denied benefits to couples in a civil union, not the state.
The ruling brings New Jersey tantalizingly close to ending official discrimination against gay people and joining the 13 states that currently allow same-sex marriages, but it isn't there yet. Indeed, Governor Christie shamefully plans to appeal the decision, possibly preventing it from going into effect on Oct. 21 as the judge ordered, and potentially delaying fair treatment for many residents of the state for a year or more.
But there's another avenue. The Democratic-led Legislature has until January to override Mr. Christie's veto of their 2012 marriage equality bill. Bolstered by the ruling, legislative leaders should devote themselves now to making that happen.
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