[1]TRENTON, N.J. (BP)–The New Jersey Supreme Court will issue its much-awaited decision on “gay marriage” on Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST, the court announced Tuesday afternoon.
The ruling by the seven-member court could make New Jersey the second state in the nation to legalize “gay marriage” — a decision that almost certainly would have an impact on elections nationwide, particularly ones in the eight states considering constitutional marriage amendments. Massachusetts’ highest court issued a decision in 2003 legalizing “gay marriage” there.
A ruling against “gay marriage” would be another major legal setback for homosexual activists in their quest to redefine marriage nationwide. They lost at the supreme court level in New York and Washington state earlier this year.
The ruling will be handed down on the last day that New Jersey Chief Justice Deborah Poritz is sitting on the bench. Under state law, justices must retire at age 70, which she turns on Thursday.
Homosexual activists are optimistic that the court will side with them. The New Jersey Supreme Court is the same one that in 1999 unanimously ruled that the Boy Scouts could not prevent homosexuals from becoming troop leaders. Poritz wrote the opinion. The decision was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The “gay marriage” case is Lewis v. Harris.
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For more information about the national debate over “gay marriage,” visit http://www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage [2]
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