NJ Appeals Court: No Same-Sex Marriage

An appellate court in NJ today affirmed 2-1 a lower court decision that barring same sex couples from marrying is not a violation of the NJ state constitution. The dissenter argued that denying same sex couples from marrying bars them from the right to marry their (individual adult, nonrelated, consenting, etc.) partner of choice, thereby effectively denying them the right to marry. The case will inevitably be appealed to the Supreme Court of New Jersey. This is the same course that Goodrich went through in Massachusetts, with the plaintiffs losing at the trial and appellate level, but prevailing at the state high court level.

The NJ trial and appellate courts held that the state legislature would have to amend the state's marriage laws before same sex couples could legally marry.

The appellate decision in Lewis v. Harris can be found here.