The New Jersey Supreme Court is located beside the New Jersey Capitol in the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex. Photo Credit: Wiki Commons

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey Supreme Court will not consider whether the state’s civil union law provides equal rights to gay couples before the case is heard in a lower court.

The court said yesterday that it could not consider the merits of the claim by six same-sex couples that New Jersey’s civil union law is unconstitutional, until there is a trial record.

Gay couples unsuccessfully sued New Jersey four years ago for the right to marry. They claimed that by creating civil unions, the state did not fulfill a court order to treat them the same as heterosexual couples seeking to marry.

The justices split 3 to 3, one vote shy of the four needed to have the court consider the case.

Justice Virginia Long, who wrote the dissenting opinion, agreed that there was an insufficient record for debating the merits of the claim, but she said that oral arguments would have helped guide the court.

Steven Goldstein, who leads Garden State Equality, said, “Same-sex couples will continue to be denied the consistent right to visit each other in the hospital, to make medical decisions for each other and to receive equal health benefits from employers,” he said.

Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council, which supports the traditional view of marriage as between one man and one woman, said, “We were hoping the Supreme Court would just reject the application outright.”

Justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court are appointed by the Governor with confirmation from the New Jersey Senate. The salary of a New Jersey Supreme Court Justice is $158,500, the 7th highest among state high courts. In its current form, the New Jersey Supreme Court is the highest and final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, the sole determinant of the constitutionality of state laws with respect to the state constitution, and the arbiter and overseer of the decennial legislative redistricting.

Earlier this year, New Jersey tried to make gay marriage legal in the state. (previous story)

A version of this article appeared in print on July 27, 2010, on page A17 of the New York edition.