On Sept. 27, 2013, Hon. Mary Jacobson, sitting in the Superior Court in Trenton, ruled in Garden State Equality v. Dow, 434 N.J. Super. 163 (Law Div. 2013), that New Jersey’s exclusion of same-sex couples from civil marriage violated the equal protection guarantee of the New Jersey Constitution. Judge Jacobson found the legislative “fix” of creating civil unions, a parallel, “separate, but equal” status for same-sex couples failed to meet the intent of the 2006 New Jersey Supreme Court decision in Lewis v. Harris, 188 N.J. 415 (2006). The Harris court unanimously held that that same-sex couples are entitled to all of the same rights, privileges, and obligations of marriage as opposite-sex couples.

Reacting to Judge Jacobson’s ruling, then Governor Chris Christie immediately sought to quash it by seeking a stay from the New Jersey Supreme Court. That court denied the stay request. Ultimately, the State dropped its appeal.