New Jersey Gay Marriage Ruling

In a 4-3 ruling, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that the state MUST provide for gay marriage "civil unions" with all the right and benefits of marriage, but does not have to call it "marriage." The Court orders that the state Legislature must "amend the marriage statutes to include same-sex couples or create a parallel statutory structure, which will provide for, on equal terms, the rights and benefits enjoyed and burdens and obligations borne by married couples."

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled today that the state Constitution entitles same-sex couples to all the legal benefits of marriage, but by another name.

The decision can be found here. [pdf]

Well, that'll spike up the so-con turnout, I bet. I'm not familiar enough with the New Jersey Constitution to comment, and haven't read the full opinion yet.

UPDATE by Pat: Actually, the vote total is higher than 4-3. At least one of the three, the chief judge, dissented in part only because he felt the opinion should have required the state to recognize same-sex "marriage", not just "civil unions". It's not clear from the opinion how the other two justices voted. They are listed on the last page of the opinion as having "concurred in part and dissented in part".