Certain marriages or civil unions prohibited.
a. A man shall not marry or enter into a civil union with any of his ancestors or descendants, or his sister or brother, or the daughter or son of his brother or sister, or the sister or brother of his father or mother, whether such collateral kindred be of the whole or half blood.
b. A woman shall not marry or enter into a civil union with any of her ancestors or descendants, or her sister or brother, or the daughter or son of her brother or sister, or the sister or brother of her father or mother, whether such collateral kindred be of the whole or half blood.
c. A marriage or civil union in violation of any of the foregoing provisions shall be absolutely void.
(New Jersey Statutes Ann. section 37:1-1)
Lewis v. Harris
Same-sex couples sued for the right to marry under the
New Jersey Constitution. The trial judge granted summary
judgment to the state on the ground that there is no fundamental
right to same-sex “marriage,” and the marriage
laws are not discriminatory. The case was appealed to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which held that the legislature had 180 days to decide rather to grant civil unions or same-sex "marriage." The legislator granted the civil unions. In March of 2010, Plaintiffs filed a Motion in Aid of Litigants' Rights claiming that the state has failed to provide equality.
McCarthy v. Asbury Park, consolidated with Asbury
Park v. State
The mayor of Asbury Park decided to follow the example
of San Francisco, and the city began issuing marriage
licenses to same-sex couples. McCarthy is a mandamus
action to stop the issuing of such marriage licenses,
and Asbury Park is a lawsuit by the city seeking
to have the state laws declared unconstitutional. The
cases have been consolidated and the parties have agreed
to a stay pending the decision in Lewis v. Harris.
