New Jersey recognizes same-sex marriages.

The plaintiffs brought a constitutional challenge to New Jersey’s parallel marriage/civil union structure in which same sex couples could not marry but could enter into civil unions. The court held as a matter of law that this structure violated the plaintiffs’ equal protection rights under the New Jersey Constitution because they would be ineligible for benefits similarly to opposite-sex couples. Therefore, the court ordered that New Jersey must recognize same-sex marriages. Thereafter, Governor Christie announced there would not be a legal challenge to this order. 

Case Law Alert, 1^st Quarter 2014