New York judges lining up for history on a summer Sunday

Timing may not be everything, but it certainly mucks things up a lot. Frank and I are going to be at Rainbow Mountain in the Poconos next weekend (a trip that was booked a couple months ago). That Sunday, July 24, is marriage equality day in New York, and a number of judges are lining up to take part in history. You see, there’s a 24-hour waiting period in New York State from when you get the license to when you can have it signed. Only judges can override that. I’m so tempted to come home Saturday . From the New York Times:

On a summer Sunday, Justice Thomas D. Raffaele of State Supreme Court in Queens would usually be in a bathing suit at the Jersey Shore. Instead, on July 24, the Sunday that New York’s same-sex marriage law goes into effect, he plans to be in his judicial robes at the city clerk’s office on Queens Boulevard, ready to marry people, possibly in large numbers. “I’ve heard there are a lot of people who are very excited,” he said. As one of several dozen judges across the state who have volunteered to play an official role in the new law’s first day, Justice Raffaele is part of one of the most unusual judicial mobilizations in years. From Buffalo to the Bronx and pretty much everywhere else in New York, judges are signing up for rare Sunday duty. If same-sex couples want to marry that Sunday, only judges would have the authority to dispense with the 24-hour waiting period required by law. And those judges could then officiate on the spot. Another of the volunteer judges, Sherry Klein Heitler of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, said she was expecting something of a party at the city clerk’s office. “I think there will be a lot of people,” Justice Heitler said. “I think there will be a lot of emotion. I think there will be a lot of happy tears.” In interviews, judges with a range of political perspectives said that for them, volunteering to work that day was public service. Judge Richard B. Meyer of Essex County Court in Elizabethtown, N.Y., said he felt an obligation to help any couple trying to take advantage of their newly minted right. “I think it’s important,” Judge Meyer said, “that people who have been waiting a long time to be married and who are anxious to do it have access to someone who is able to perform the ceremony on their time frame.” ]]>