Poritz weighs in on gay marriage

before retiring

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Home News Tribune Online 10/26/06

TRENTON — After a decade heading the state's highest court, the first woman to become chief justice in New Jersey retired yesterday, the day before her 70th birthday.
 

	The Associated Press New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Deborah T. Poritz laughs as she sits in the Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton on Monday.  After a decade heading the state's highest court, Poritz, the first woman to beome chief justice in New Jersey, retired yesterday, the day before her 70th birthday.

Deborah T. Poritz's final day at work wasn't a quiet one, as the Supreme Court made its long-anticipated decision on gay marriage, ruling that homosexuals are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals but leaving it to lawmakers to legalize same-sex unions.

"This is really the capstone for her career.  It re-emphasizes her strong commitment to social justice and full equality," said Rutgers law professor Frank Askin.  "It's a fitting end to her career."

Poritz actually joined the minority opinion in calling for full gay marriage.

"What we "name' things matters, language matters," she wrote.  "Labels set people apart as surely as physical separation on a bus or in school facilities."

New Jersey's high court has a history of rulings that expand civil rights, including some gay-friendly rulings, under Poritz's leadership.

In some of the most notable decisions authored by Poritz, the court:

# Ruled the Boy Scouts of America could not revoke the membership of a scoutmaster based solely on the fact he was gay.  That ruling was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

# Ruled that a convicted sex offender may be required to submit to HIV testing at the victim's request.

# Overturned a law requiring parental notification for abortions involving underage girls.  The court said the law unfairly restricted the fundamental right of a woman to choose whether to have an abortion.

# Allowed Democrats to replace U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli with Frank Lautenberg on the 2002 ballot 35 days before the general election and after the deadline for changing candidates had passed.

Before her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1996 by Republican Gov. Christie Whitman — the state's only female governor — Poritz, a Republican, was the state's first female attorney general under Whitman.  She also held various other posts in the Attorney General's Office before that, and was chief counsel to former Gov. Thomas H. Kean.

In an interview earlier this week, Poritz said she never felt she was treated differently because she was a woman, or because she was the first woman in some positions.

"I've always felt the pressure to do the best I could do.  I don't think being a woman or the only woman made any difference," she said.

Whitman said Poritz "has a backbone of steel."

"I have not agreed with every decision the court's made, but I think she's upheld the intellectual integrity of the court," Whitman said.

Not everyone sings her praises.

Assemblyman and lawyer Richard Merkt, R-Morris, didn't mince words about her retirement.

"I think she's been the worst chief justice in the modern era, she's a blatant activist," said Merkt, who called the sitting Supreme Court a "parking lot for political hacks."

"Thank heaven she's gone," he added.