NEW JERSEY: State Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Lambda Legal's Marriage Case

Breaking news from the Associated Press:

The state's highest court on Friday agreed to hear a case on whether gay marriage should be legal and whether same-sex weddings can be performed while it decides. A lower-court judge ruled last month that the state must legalize same-sex marriage starting Oct. 21, but Gov. Chris Christie's administration said in a court filing Friday that a single judge should not be able to force New Jersey to do so. The argument was included in a brief the state submitted in support of its emergency appeal after a state judge refused to delay her order that New Jersey legalize same-sex marriage as of Oct. 21. The state Supreme Court accepted the case Friday, skipping the normal course of letting an appeals court hear it first. Oral arguments were scheduled for January.

Lambda Legal reacts via press release:

Today the New Jersey Supreme Court announced it would hear both the merits of the marriage case as well as the appeal on the stay motion. "Time is of the essence and it's great the court is moving so quickly," said Hayley Gorenberg, Deputy Legal Director of Lambda Legal. "We are looking forward to making our case at the New Jersey Supreme Court for the families in New Jersey who need marriage to better protect their families."

Lambda tells me that the stay motion schedule is unchanged and that their papers on that are due on this Tuesday. That means that the Court could decide to let marriages begin on October 21st before hearing the full case in January.