Same-sex couples will officially be able to get married in the Garden State on Monday.
Same-sex couples will officially be able to get married in the Garden State on Monday.
In a major blow to Gov. Chris Christie, whose administration has staunchly opposed efforts to legalize marriage equality, the state Supreme Court on Friday denied a request to delay an earlier ruling requiring that the state allow gay couples to marry beginning on Oct. 21. The state's highest court will hear arguments in the case next year.
According to NBC's Pete Williams, the court also strongly indicated that it would rule against Christie's administration and declare the ban on same-sex marriage in violation of the state's constitution.
Local mayors had directed clerks to begin accepting applications for marriage licenses from same-sex couples on Thursday. State law requires a 72-hour waiting period for a marriage application to go through.
“In order for us to be ready, we have to start the process,” Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna said to msnbc.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who was elected this week to fill the late Sen. Lautenberg’s seat, plans on marrying several same-sex couples at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, BuzzFeed reports.
The Oct. 21 deadline was set by Judge Mary Jacobson, who last month ruled the state was in violation of a 2006 Supreme Court order requiring that gay couples be given the same rights and privileges granted to heterosexual spouses. The legislature passed a law allowing civil unions in response.
But in the wake of a June Supreme Court order striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, plaintiffs challenging New Jersey’s marriage laws argued that gay couples no longer received the same level of equality, because federal benefits were given only to those in legal marriages, not civil unions.