I hope Kean doesn't mess this up, and comes out with an intelligent response to this.
He must disagree with this decision, as it strips the rights of the people/legislature to decide what accomodations they would include in a gay civil union. It must include EVERYTHING according to this ruling, everything that traditional marriage has, gay marriage must have, with the exception of the "name" marriage.
There is very lttle Kean has to say. A slap at "unelected judges" would be the best short-term tactic.
New Jersey holds its gubernatorial and legislative elections in odd-numbered years. In 2007, the legislature is up for grabs, and the governorship comes up in 2009. This issue will have no immediate effect on state government because state government is not up for grabs.
Seats in Congress are up for grabs this November, but this state decision will have little effect on House races and the Kean-Menendez race unless it's a purely emotional effect.
The state Supreme Court's ultimatum to the legislature, however, puts the Democrats in a lose-lose situation for 2007. If they create "gay marriage" or "gay civil unions", a lot of people are going to be steamed, mostly conservative. If they balk, they are going to piss off liberals. If the state Supreme Court takes over because the legislature cannot, then you have an even larger backlash from voters in general because unelected judges have redefined how the people shall live.
This is one of those decisions that will have greater effects in a year than in a month.