A six-month timetable has been set for the state legislature to come up with the terminology. Should be an interesting time in Trenton.

The decision was 4-3.

for the Press to start screaming 'Activist Court/Judges' without regard to the fact that the Chief Justice (who voted to strike down the statute) is a Republican, and a Republican appointee.

stopwatches out........Click!

-5.75,-4.05 "I am in earnest; I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard."
William Lloyd Garrison
US abolitionist & editor (1805 - 1879)

One of the very first things Bush said after the 2004 election was that he wasn't going to pursue a gay marriage amendment because the Senate would never approve it. Boy did he have to back down fast on that one - it sent shock waves through the religious right who had just given him 80% of their vote because he was such a man of God.

Bush's heart doesn't seem to be into these gay bashing issues and he's constantly trying to squirm away from his party's doctrinaire positions.

from the October 27, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1027/p01s01-uspo.html

N.J. boost for gay couples buoys GOP

Wednesday's ruling in favor of full legal rights for gay couples may galvanize certain voters.

By Alexandra Marks | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

NEW YORK
The political fallout from Wednesday's New Jersey Supreme Court ruling in favor of full rights for gay couples could ripple far beyond the borders of the Garden State.

With control of the House and Senate at stake in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Republican leaders are hoping the ruling will give their wavering conservative base - who would see the court's move as another attack on traditional marriage - a reason to go to the polls.

The New Jersey outcome could suddenly give impetus to voters in eight states where the ballot includes measures to ban gay marriage. In some of these states - Tennessee and Virginia, especially - the races for Senate seats are too close to call. Others, namely Arizona and Colorado, have hotly contested House races that may give a boost to Republican candidates.

The ruling, which found that gay couples in New Jersey are entitled to the same legal and financial protections as heterosexual couples, could tip the national balance, many political analysts say.

"The Republicans are thrilled and the Democrats are furious with those judges, and that tells me all I need to know," says Larry Sabato, a political analyst at the University of Virginia. "Both sides understand this is a boost for Republican turnout among social conservatives, many of whom were very discouraged and probably were not going to vote because of the [Mark] Foley scandal and Iraq."

Some analysts, though, disagree. Gay marriage has lost some of its salience as a galvanizing issue, they say, in part because Americans are so focused on the war in Iraq.

"The country seems very, very centered on Iraq, and ... it's very unlikely that something that happened in New Jersey is going to energize social conservatives," says Cliff Zukin, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "Every poll I've looked at suggests that Iraq remains the defining issue."

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