Due Process and Equal Protection: A Constitutional Approach to Same-Sex Marriage

On July 6, 2006, the Court of Appeals of New York decided Hernandez v. Robles. At issue in that case was whether New York\u27s Domestic Relations Law violated the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the New York constitution by limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. The plaintiffs were members of forty-four same-marriage licenses in the State of New York. The case began as four separate lawsuits in which the plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment against the license-issuing authorities of New York City, Albany, and Ithaca; the State Department of Health, which instructs local authorities about the issuance of marriage licenses; and the State itself, for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, while issuing licenses to opposite-sex couples. In the end, the Court of Appeals of New York held that the New York Constitution does not compel recognition of marriages between members of the same sex. The court emphasized that [w]hether such marriages should be recognized is a question to be addressed by the Legislature and not by the courts