Same-sex marriages can begin within days in New Jersey after the state’s highest court ruled unanimously Friday to uphold an order that they must start Monday and to deny a delay that had been sought by Gov. Chris Christie’s administration.
The ruling puts New Jersey on the cusp of becoming the 14th state — and the third-most populous among them — to allow same-sex marriage. The advocacy group Freedom to Marry said that as of Monday, one-third of Americans will live in a place where same-sex marriage is legal.
“The state has advanced a number of arguments, but none of them overcome this reality: Same-sex couples who cannot marry are not treated equally under the law today,” the court said in an opinion by Chief Justice Stuart Rabner. “The harm to them is real, not abstract or speculative.”
A judge on a lower court had ruled last month that New Jersey must recognize same-sex marriage and set Monday as the date to allow weddings. Christie, a Republican who is considered a possible 2016 presidential candidate, appealed the decision and asked for the start date to be put on hold while the state appeals.
A spokesman for Christie said that he will comply with the ruling, though he doesn’t like it.
New Jersey’s top court agreed last week to take up the appeal of the lower-court ruling. Oral arguments are expected Jan. 6 or 7.
In Friday’s opinion, Rabner wrote that the state has not shown that it is likely to prevail in the case, though it did present some reasons not to marriage to move forward now.
“But when a party presents a clear case of unequal treatment, and asks the court to vindicate constitutionally protected rights, a court may not sidestep its obligation to rule for an indefinite amount of time,” he wrote. “Under these circumstances, courts do not have the option to defer.”
Rabner also rejected the state’s argument that it was in the public interest not to allow marriages until the court has had more time to rule fully on the issue.
“We can find no public interest in depriving a group of New Jersey residents of their constitutional right to equal protection while the appeals process unfolds,” he wrote.
For those opposed to gay marriage, denying the request to delay was troubling.
“In what universe does it make sense to let the question at hand be answered before it’s asked or argued?” Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council, said in a letter Friday to members.
The court did not address the question of what would happen to same-sex marriages entered into next week if it later decides that the state did not have to grant the marriages.
