Mayor cleared of same-sex marriages charge

NEW PALTZ, N.Y., June 11 (UPI) -- A New Paltz, N.Y., town judge cleared Mayor Jason West of all criminal charges filed against him for sanctioning 25 same-sex marriages in February.

Justice Jonathan D. Katz Wednesday said New York state's ban on such marriages is unconstitutional, quoting U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who said, "We must ever be on guard lest we erect our prejudices into legal principles," The New York Times reported.

"This is the first ruling in any court in the state of New York in which any judge has ever declared the ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional," said E. Joshua Rosenkranz, West's attorney.

West was charged in March with 19 misdemeanor counts of solemnizing a marriage without a license.