Constitutional Law

Two days later, Ayotte changed her mind and withdrew from the case. Her office issued a terse statement and made no one available to discuss the decision.

Turns out, state legislators had already thought through this dilemma, addressing it in New Hampshire's five-month-old civil unions law. If a gay couple has the opportunity to get married elsewhere, their marriage will be treated as a civil union by the state of New Hampshire. The same goes for couples granted civil unions elsewhere. The language is clear and unambiguous.

Ayotte joined with states whose voters or elected officials have come to a contrary position on this issue - explicitly banning gay marriage. In joining an effort to delay California's landmark ruling, she would have sought to deny, rather than expand, the rights of individual New Hampshire citizens. That's a curious priority indeed for the attorney general of a state whose civil union law has put it proudly at the forefront of the gay rights movement.