Same-Sex Marriage Decision Clearly Overreaches

The ruling of the New Jersey Supreme Court awarded the proponents of same-sex marriage everything but the name “marriage” itself. Ordering the legislature to choose what name to assign the relationship was not an exercise of judicial restraint, as the court claimed, but instead evidence of its overreaching.

In holding that same-sex lovers are similarly situated to heterosexual married couples, the court exceeded the bounds of its authority to merely declare what the law is and entered the realm of policy-making. It thus violated the separation of powers by encroaching upon the authority of the legislature. The decision underscores the need both for the federal marriage protection amendment and for legislative measures to rein in the judicial branch. Rule by the judiciary is inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the American legal system.