NY “Judicial Ethics Committee ‘Punts’ on Query Over Same-Sex Marriage”

NY Law Journal: The question has been posed by an unidentified judge in a query to the state courts’ Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, but the answer remains unclear . . .  In Opinion 11-87 . . .  Dale Schowengerdt, legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based Christian advocacy group that is backing Ms. Belforti, said he is unaware of any other instance in the country in which a judge has posed the question of whether they can refuse to perform same-sex marriages if they perform other marriages. “Judges have discretion on what marriages to solemnize, and whether to solemnize,” said Mr. Schowengerdt, a member of the Alliance’s marriage litigation team. “Judges don’t generally have a duty and shouldn’t be forced to officiate a union that violates their sincerely held religious convictions, especially since there are plenty of judges willing to officiate at same-sex weddings. There is no reason to force other judges to violate their conscience.”