VT Chief Justice to Step Down in August
By AP from the NYTimes on the Web, June 17, 2004
MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Amestoy, author of the historic 1999 ruling on gay rights that led to the state's creation of civil unions, said Wednesday he is stepping down.
"It is a good time for a change," said Amestoy, 57, whose resignation will become effective Aug. 6.
Amestoy said in an interview that after he spends the fall as a fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics, "my plan right now is to have no plan."
"I want an opportunity to explore some things," he said, adding that he is interested in teaching and writing.
In 1984, Amestoy, a Republican, was elected attorney general, a post he held until his surprise appointment as chief justice in 1997 by then-Gov. Howard Dean, a Democrat.
"Chief Justice Amestoy is one of the most extraordinary chief justices in Vermont history," Dean said Wednesday.
"He brought integrity and a strong sense of social justice to his time on the bench.
I'm very proud to have appointed him."
The court heard arguments late in 1998 in Baker v. State of Vermont, in which gays and lesbians argued that they had a right to marry under the Vermont Constitution.
The court ruled a year later that homosexuals did have such a right, but left it up to the Legislature to decide how same-sex couples should be acknowledged.
In 2000, the lawmakers created civil unions, giving gays and lesbians the benefits of marriage without the title.
In the ruling Amestoy wrote that extending benefits to gays and lesbians "as Vermonters who seek nothing more, nor less, than legal protection and security for their avowed commitment to an intimate and lasting human relationship is simply, when all is said and done, a recognition of our common humanity."
"History will make its own judgment on the Baker decision as an expression of state constitutional law," Amestoy said Wednesday, "but I don't think that there can be any doubt about the degree to which Vermont stands as an example of how a community ought to respond to an issue like that."
He added that although the decision drew much opposition, many people have since become more accepting of gay marriage.
Amestoy said he hopes to devote a fair share of his time to researching, writing and speaking about issues raised by the Baker decision.
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