I have had a little time to think about what the state Supreme Court did yesterday, and my enthusiasm for the ruling was probably a bit premature. It was not a loss by any stretch, but yesterday’s decision in Lewis v. Harris was not exactly a win.
As I said, a day of reflection and some strong arguments from an array of gay-marriage supporters indicate that, while gays and lesbians will have the same rights and benefits the rest of us enjoy, they still must endure a separate, inferior status under the law.
In the end, a bad decision that might have some good results, but not enough to make up for the continued second-class status that same-sex couples will endure and the ugly public fight that is likely to occur over the next six months.
Bob Braun’s angry, pointed column in The Star-Ledger is a a must-read on the subject:
The New Jersey Supreme Court choked.
Choked on a word. Just one word.
Marriage.
A court once gutsy enough to find a fundamental right in high school spending — and shut down the state’s schools to vindicate it. That once sought to transform housing patterns throughout New Jersey. A leader in product liability law and laws against discrimination and freedom of the press.
Even a leader now — really — in granting rights to gays and lesbians (because it does that, sort of, mostly, in this decision). Like a gagging Ralph Kramden physically unable to apologize to his wife Alice, the court simply could not bring itself to say that one word.
Marriage.
Braun called the decision, which was full of linguistic gymnastics that allowed the court to endorse gay marriage without endorsing gay marriage, “Purple prose, but lousy law.”
Because that, of course, is precisely what the tribunal should not have done — ducked an important decision that was the court’s to make and, instead, put us all in those “swift and treacherous currents of social policy.”
So now on to the Legislature — the “same crowd that couldn’t keep state parks open during the hottest days of the summer,” Braun says– where the political process should turn the latest drive for civil rights into an ugly, hateful battle for political space.
The court, it appears, punted when it shcould have gone for the goal-line.
South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
Hank Kalet 
I am afraid I still feel good about this. They handed it to the legislature to do what they are required to do: write good law. The court could do no more, in truth, because it was only their job to resolve the dispute they were handed in accord with the law and not to write law from the bench. In addition, I respect a court that is wise enough to limit decisions as much as possible. The court simply determined that gay couples must be given equal rights and let the legislature define the rights of married couple. My personal opinion is that the state should get out of the marriage business anyway. Leave marriage to the religions and let everyone, gay and straight alike, formalize a legal agreement when they wish to make that sort of commitment.
Bob Braun specializes in sentiment, & \”marriage\” is sentiment, the religious attitude about heterosexual marriage is sentiment, & the LGBT desire to duplicate it is sentiment. Alright, symbols matter, but actual rights matter more. Let\’s start here in Jersey getting the government out of the marriage game. & you do it by calling the contract a \”civil union\” & throwing all those \”matrimonial\” laws overboard.