In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state in the United States to recognize same sex marriage. Numerous states thus enact differing laws regarding the ability of same sex couples to marry in their states, with numerous states passing laws to ban same sex marriage, and various states over the years,…
Despite the recent heat wave, Fall has arrived. Besides the presumably cooler weather, when the calendar hits September, we can always look forward to a number of things – school starts, rush hour traffic resumes, shorter days, etc. However, for us lawyers September brings with it the annual amendments that…
The Appellate Division this past week approved another decision by family court judge, Hon. Lawrence R. Jones, J.S.C., this time in the matter of Groh-v-Groh, which was decided back in March, 2014. The parties in this case are a same sex couple who entered into a civil union in 2008,…
In Mr. Yudes’ June, 2013 blog post, he discussed the landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Windsor to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) as unconstitutional due to its denial of equal protection to same sex couples. The Defense of Marriage Act limited…
In a recent blog post, I discussed how U.S. v. Windsor, 570 US 7 (2013), in striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) laid into question what the New Jersey Legislature’s response might be to the New Jersey Supreme Court’s directive in Lewis v. Harris 188 N.J. 415 (2006). In Lewis the…
The case of US v. Windsor, 570 U.S. 7, (2013), decided on the last day of the United States Supreme Court’s term on June 26, 2013, declared unconstitutional certain provisions of Bill Clinton’s landmark legislation, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, commonly referred to as “DOMA”. The challenge to DOMA before the U.S. Supreme Court in…