Two Things That Fill Me With Joy

[dr_pretentious]

Hundred-year-old color photographs from Russia--many thanks to rednikki for the link.

New Jersey's Supreme Court got it right, as we all thought they probably would. I have seen the future of America, and it is New Jersey!

Comments

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Because the question at issue was a question of state law and the state constitution, there is no higher court with jurisdiction, so the decision cannot be appealed. It would take an amendment to the US Constitution to invalidate the state supreme court's decision, and if a federal amendment to do that couldn't get traction last time it was proposed, I don't think it's likely to get traction in our lifetimes.

The remaining open questions are:
1) Which of the two options the court will accept as remedies will the state legislature put in place--marriage that's called marriage, or marriage that's not called marriage? In either case, the court's opinion notes that the couples themselves are free to call their relationships anything they want to.

2)Will other states recognize the relationships that are solemnized in New Jersey? Nothing in the supreme court's decision suggests that New Jersey same-sex marriages or civil unions shouldn't be portable, although they could have chosen to put in place something like the executive order the governor of Massachusetts issued, whereby only those queer couples who can prove that they live in Massachusetts can get marriage licenses there.

The majority of New Jerseyans favor civil unions. A slight majority don't want to call them by the name of marriage. We have 179 days left to change the minds of enough of them to get the right thing done in the state house. I think we can do it.